Guwahati Grapples With Parking Crisis

GUWAHATI: Guwahati, once a city with manageable traffic, is now staring at a severe parking crisis. With a staggering 62,218 cars registered this year alone, the city’s infrastructure is struggling to cope. The number of registered vehicles has increased significantly compared to last year’s 1,11,437, and with four months still to go, the situation is only expected to worsen.

A GMC official said, “Currently, there are only 54 parking spaces in Guwahati, authorized by the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and approved by the Traffic Department. However, parking spaces fluctuate due to traffic management, leading to inadequate parking facilities.”

Talking to The Sentinel, an officer from the Traffic Department said, “The Traffic Department collects a significant amount of fine from unauthorized parking, with Guwahati city collecting an average of Rs 15 to 16 lakh on traffic rules violations. Citizens are frustrated with the lack of sufficient parking, leading to double lane parking in single lane spaces and unauthorized parking.”

One of the people commented, “There’s not enough parking compared to the number of increasing cars. Parking becomes full in malls, and people have to park their cars outside on the road.”

Another resident commented, “Proper management of parking spaces is necessary. Take the example of the multi-storage parking on Zoo Road. The underutilization of multi-storage parking is due to high fares (Rs 1000 to 2000) and a lack of nearby malls. We suggest reducing of fares to Rs 10 to 20 and increasing parking spaces. As a smart city, there are nearly not enough parking spaces.”

A GMC official said, “We acknowledge the need for over 100 parking spaces, but proposals submitted to the Traffic Department to add more spaces have been rejected due to security reasons and bureaucracy. The number of roadside parking spaces has decreased from 70 to 54 in recent years.”

The GMC urges the Traffic Department to address the issue, given the increasing number of cars and traffic congestion. Citizens and officials alike call for improved parking management to mitigate Guwahati’s parking crisis.

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