LAHORE, July 7: Many busy roads in the provincial metropolis are being used as parking lots without any let or hindrance.

Hundreds of cars and pickups belonging to shopkeepers remain parked on both sides of the two lane Shahalam Market main road from morning till evening leaving no space for the parking of the shoppers who resort to double parking. A multi-million rupees parking plaza built by the Lahore Development Authority remains vacant and has become a liability for the authority.

Traditional Anarkali is another bazaar turned into a parking lot by traders. The former Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore had built the Super Shahalam Market on the Circular Road for shifting the Anarkali vendors on the protest of the shopkeepers desirous of clearing encroachments from the bazaar. The vendors have left the bazaar but the space vacated by them has been covered by rows of cars which remain parked throughout the day.

Traffic cannot move freely on the 200 feet wide Montgomery Road because minor repairs of motorvehicles and decorative work is carried out in front of the shops on both sides of the road. Only 8 to 10 feet road is available on both sides of the median for the movement of the heavy trafficload.

Brandreth Road is another busy thoroughfare used for parking of cars. The former Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore declared it one-way to facilitate traffic from Chowk Dalgaran to Adda Crown Bus Chowk on the Circular Road but the shopkeepers have utilised the space thus made available for turning the road into a parking lot. Cars are also parked on the road between the Australia Chowk and the T-crossing near the Government Polytechnic Institute Hostel.

Hundreds of motorcycles are parked on both sides of the McLeod Road motorcycle market. The shopkeepers used to park the motorcycles on the footpaths in front of their shops in the beginning. They leave the footpaths clear now and park the motorcycles in rows on both sides of the road.

Hall Road is yet another thoroughfare used as a parking lot. Double parking of cars is common on the left side of the road stretch between the Regal Chowk and the drain bridge. Motorcycles are parked in a row on the right side leaving only a narrow space for the movement of the traffic on the one-way thoroughfare.

The service roads of the Circular Road between Do Moria Bridge and Bhati Gate are also being used as parking lots. The slow moving traffic for which these roads were meant has been pushed into the traffic mainstream on the two roads in the centre.

Motorvehicles are also being parked in rows on both sides of the busy Davis Road commercialised a few decades ago. Multi-storeyed buildings have come up on both sides of the road without providing a space for the parking of the vehicles in accordance with the Lahore Development Authority Building Bylaws.

The trend of parking of motorvehicles on the roads is on the increase because of the failure of the planners to control the unauthorized commercialization of the residential areas on the one hand and ensuring availability of adequate parking spaces in the areas commercialized with their permission. Provision of parking spaces in all the multi-storeyed buildings is mandatory under the building bylaws of the Lahore Development Authority but the builders convert the parking spaces into shops or offices after the completion of the buildings with the blessings of the officials concerned with the result that the roads are turned into parking lots.