Years-Old Parking Chaos, Traffic Snarls Continue To Haunt Old Bhopal Market

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): For the past five years, meetings between the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), district administration officials and traders’ associations have been a routine exercise ahead of every festival season to address traffic congestion and parking problems in the Old City.

Yet, despite repeated discussions and promises, little progress has been made in this direction.

On Thursday, Member of Parliament Alok Sharma chaired a review meeting at the collector’s office with senior officials and representatives of traders’ associations from bullion, grocery, pharmaceutical and clothing markets. Traders once again raised two key concerns: unorganized parking and worsening traffic jams, both of which affected business.

Encroachments on parking spaces

Parking spaces near Chowk Bazaar, in particular, are encroached upon by illegal garages, leaving little room for shoppers. In the meeting, MP Sharma directed BMC commissioner Harendra Narayan to clear encroachments immediately, but no action has been taken so far.

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Maelstrom of vehicles

According to traffic police data, on normal days about 20,000–25,000 vehicles enter the Old Bhopal market area. This number rises to 35,000–40,000 on weekends and touches 50,000–60,000 during the festive season. Despite two multilevel parkings, one in front of Moti Masjid and another near Chatori Gali, Ibrahimpura (each with a capacity of more than 1,000 vehicles), only 20% of incoming vehicles are parked there. The rest spill on to the already congested roads, as many parking spaces have also been encroached.

Whither parking projects?

In 2022, the BMC had proposed five new parking projects but no progress has been made since.

• A “Pink Parking” zone for women near the Curfew Wali Mata Temple auto stand

• A commercial complex with parking at Sheesh Mahal and the Women’s Sewing Training Centre

• Reserved parking for outstation vehicles near Moti Masjid.

• Near Azad Market shops

No result of 2023 meet

A similar meeting held in 2023 under the then collector Ashish Singh led to the formation of a committee tasked with weekly reviews on parking space marking. It was also decided to work in coordination with the District Traffic Committee. But like previous initiatives, this too failed to yield results.

Official’s take

BMC Additional commissioner Varun Awasthi, however, maintained that work was underway. “Action against encroachments is going on continuously. Soon, the entire area will be made encroachment-free,” he told the Free Press.