Shimla turns into no parking town !

Shimla : Unable to provide parking space to the growing traffic in this popular tourist destination the Himachal Pradesh authorities have come up with a bad idea of scaring away motorists from Shimla roads .

Over the past few days ‘no parking’ sign boards are being pasted and stuck on walls, railings and even trees, warning people not to park .

These warning plates are placed at a gap of 10 to 15 feet on streets and other places where there is any scope for parking a vehicle .

Interestingly , these sign boards are sponsored by HDFC bank which is advertising its Sampoorna Bharosa Gold Loan’ product along with the no parking warning .

Most of Shimla has already been covered with these countless signs and sources say in the next few days the entire hill station will be covered .

Due to its steep mountain terrain and narrow roads parking space is very hard to find in this Himachal Pradesh capital .

Being a popular tourist destination the pressure is even more along with the rising local population.

Parking is not allowed in large parts of the town, a few roads are even out of bounds for vehicles like the Mall road and the Ridge .

Penalties for unauthorised parking can vary between Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 , shocking motorists. Toeing away of vehicles has been going on for many years .

Even getting to the state’s premier Snowdon hospital is equally hard and people carrying patients are not often spared by the traffic police ,complain many .

There is a lot of criticism of the civic authorities for being unable to build desperately needed parking lots over the years .

Parking charges in the existing lots are very high. Tourists are exploited by people running these lots with up to Rs 500 charge for a single car for 12 hours during the peak tourist season .

No wonder Shimla putts off many tourists !