After the police asked residents to remove cars parked illegally on bridges during the recent spell of rain, residents’ associations in flood-prone areas have reiterated their demand for multi-level parking lots.

The Federation of Velachery Residents’ Welfare Association’s vice-president, S. Kumararaja, said the State government failed to set up multi-level parking lots in Velachery, Perungudi, and Taramani MRTS stations, where land is available. “Private parking lots in malls were full during the rain. The State government should create a multi-level parking lot in the HR&CE land of 1.85 acres on the Velachery-Taramani Road, which is currently being used to park omni buses and engineering college buses,” he said.

“Residents have also demanded another multi-level parking lot in a land parcel of 0.75 acres in Sarathy Nagar in Velachery, following the illegal parking of cars on the bridge. The 0.75-acre HR&CE land is being leased for parking zoom cars. Residents are worried as illegal parking on bridges increases risk of accidents,” he said.

A. Francis, president of the Federation of Thoraipakkam Residents’ Welfare Associations, said the residents have parked cars on the stretches of the Thoraipakkam-Pallavaram Radial Road, which was 10 feet above the neighbouring streets that get flooded. “The residents would not have parked their cars on the road if the State government had already constructed multi-level parking lots at MRTS stations such as Velachery,” he said.

V.S. Jayaraman, a residents of T. Nagar, said the government should have permitted residents in flooded areas to park free of cost in the multi-level car park in T. Nagar during the rain. “Water level in many roads, including Ranganathan Street and Motilal Street, was one feet,” he said.

SAP Anna University visiting faculty and former CMDA Chief Planner K. Kumar said on-street parking isn’t a privilege anyone is entitled to unless the government voluntarily provides for it. “In Japan and many ASEAN cities, on-street parking is legally prohibited. Desperate moments call for desperate solutions. If some pockets of the city are prone to flooding in successive monsoon floods despite the extensive and elaborate efforts taken by the government agencies by way of construction of missing links in the SWD network, the makeshift alternative of allowing the residence owners to park their cars on the nearby overpasses can be resorted to as an exigency. In the context of the commitment of the government to decarbonisation of urban mobility and pursuance of a Climate Action Plan, giving this misplaced priority to a private issue will only work at cross purposes,” he said.