Parking problems hit Lamakaan visitors

Banjara Hills: The Lamakaan showcases a variety of cultural programmes to the citizens, however, the visitors are witnessing parking problems at the Open Cultural Centre. Parking has always been a problem at this cultural space, which has now been shrunk as the single line parking has been banned by the traffic police. 

The single line parking was bothering the residents of the area. The space between the parked cars is taken up by drunkards and druggists in late evenings who use the space for drinking, smoking and cutting streetlight cables in the middle of the night. “The problem is because some visitors wait late night, in the darkness behind the parked cars the rowdy-sheeters indulge in creating nuisance by drinking, smoking and trashing bottles on the boundary walls of the local residents which is annoying the residents. We’ve also come across a complaint that they were cutting off street light to make the street dark. Because of which the residents of the locality launched a complaint,” said Karunakar, a Lamakaan management staff member. 

Unable to bear such nuisance every day, the residents filed complains after complaints forcing the traffic police to put up restrictions in the area. The traffic police have barricaded the two sides of road by installing red cones making parking impossible. Now, the visitors to Lamakaan are a bothered lot for finding space for parking due to the new parking curbs started last week. Rajesh, a visitor to Lamakaan, said, “Traffic police has to find some solution for parking, there has to be some alternative to cope up with the situation. There are congestion issues on Sunday evenings, since it is a narrow one-way road. Earlier, single line parking provided enough space for vehicles, but the new system is packed.” 

Lamakaan security guard said, “We are trying to restrict the vehicles to our boundary walls because the residents in the area are serious about the problems being caused.” “Every week we have to make a complaint to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials regarding the street lights, we are elderly citizens and It is a definite trouble for us to walk through the streets without lights, Although, the management staff of Lamakaan are very helpful and so are the visitors, and yet we are not sure on how this is happening. 

I’ve also heard my neighbours complaint about the bottles being trashed in their premises,”  said, a resident of the area who wished to be anonymous. Several attempts were made to contact the Traffic police officials who kept passing the buck from one department to the others, while some refused to comment.