In a major relief for residents of Baner and Balewadi, who were plagued with the problem of haphazardly parked vehicles near Balewadi High Street, the popular nightspot has started free valet parking facilities for all its patrons on the premises of the Cummins India office, next to the food courts. Residents are now hoping that similar provisions will be made for twowheelers, which will resolve the problem completely.
Mirror had published a report on May 19 (Balewadi High Street patrons park on the road, residents irked), on the inconvenience caused to residents by cars parked all over the road in front of Balewadi High Street, part of the Panchshil business park. Members of the Baner-Balewadi Residents’ Association complained that the main road was chock-a-block with parked vehicles throughout the day, and the situation only got worse at night as the crowd swells. They suggested that restaurant owners work out on a plan with the developer, and use the basement area for parking customers’ vehicles.
Accordingly, since Wednesday, the valet service started. The parking facility of Cummins is able to provide parking for almost 90 fourwheelers. Apart from this, around 50 cars can fit into the parking space at High Street itself.
“We are happy that they have started this facility -it’s a major relief for residents of the area. I want to thank the restaurant-owners and the developer for taking this step in the interest of the residents,” said Anurag Bharadwaj, chairman of the Baner-Balewadi Residents’Association.
Rajesh Mehta, owner of La Pizzeria, one of the restaurants at Balewadi High Street, said, “Valet parking has been started for the benefit for the visitors and residents of the area who were facing issues due to vehicles being parked on the road by visitors.There will be more developments in the solution to the parking problem we wanted to focus on the four-wheelers first as they take up more space. We will soon look into the problem of the two-wheelers as well.”
Ravish Arora, owner of Incognito restaurant, said, “We had promised residents of the area that we would resolve the parking issue. It has finally been done, though we regret that it took this long. Discussions over the issue have been going on for a while, but implementation takes more time than anticipated. However, the problem is mostly resolved and we are in further talks to make the parking facilities better and to resolve the issue once and for all.”
