Sambalpur: SMC is Afraid of Mall Owners; No Action Despite 20-Day Parking Notice

Sambalpur: The Municipal Corporation issued a notice to the owners of large malls and hotels in Sambalpur city. Strict action will be taken if the parking places are used for other purposes. Even though more than 20 days have passed since this notice, no action has been taken. It is alleged that the SMC authorities are ignoring the long queues in front of malls and hotels.

There are many hotels and malls in the VSS Marg, the main commercial center of Sambalpur city. Mostly all have underground parking. But they are using it for other purposes and parking vehicles on the road. Even though everyone was witnessing the daily parking on the side of the road, how did the SMC not notice it? This raises suspicions that the SMC may have just issued a public notice as a formality while having an underlying deal with these big establishments. The public has made such a serious complaint. Many times, the road is jammed due to people parking on the road. People are having trouble getting around. The SMC issued a notice to vacate the parking places and ordered parking there. It could not be implemented until today.

There are many commercial establishments along the road from Fatak to Ainthapali. In front of all establishments, vehicles are being parked on the road in piles. Now, there is talk in the city that such an order has been given only to scare the establishments and to deal with them heavily. Even before this notice, there were parking rules, and everyone was ignoring them. Suddenly, there was a new notice. Even then, everyone is silent. People wonder what kind of message this is conveying. There is no instance of any action being taken, as there is an internal agreement between SMCs and the owners of large establishments. So, this notice was just a public show. SMC officials were contacted about this, but they did not respond.