Shops, not cars, cram Darjeeling parking plaza

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 03 Aug 2019, Darjeeling: Marie Antoinette had in 1789 retorted "Let them eat cake" when told the French had no bread.

Three centuries later, the reference is finding a parallel in Darjeeling.

Darjeeling town is short of parking space but the most easily accessible floor at a parking plaza near Darjeeling Government College is occu- pied by shops. Since the time the parking place was inaugurated around one-and-half- years ago, residents have been awestruck by its design. The shops -- there are 24 shuttered structures -- continue to stall tall.

The plaza is a seven-storied building and, while six floors are functional, the rooftop -- which runs parallel to Lebong Cart Road -- has the shops.

The plaza, in a sense, reflects the state of affairs in Darjeeling.

The Rs 26-crore project was to have an entry and exit point. The project involved dismantling a PWD office. However, when the political bonhomie between Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Gurung and Mamata Banerjee faded, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) could not obtain permission to dismantle the PWD office to complete the project.

The GTA has so far completed only 40 per cent of the plan and instead of dedicating the entire space to parking, it decided to build shops on the ground floor.

"Guess, shops are more lucrative for politicians, even though common sense says the top floor, too, should have been allotted as parking space," said a driver at the plaza.

The GTA has posted 10 staffers to collect parking fees. "We collected (fees) for a month or two but after the drivers were unwilling to pay, it was stopped," said a staff.

But while the complex has fee collectors, there are no sweepers or guards. "The toilet is filthy. We drivers pooled in funds to clean the place," said another driver.

Many believe that if the shops on the top floor are dismantled and vehicles in a rooftop parking at Motor Stand, around 1.5km away, shifted to the plaza, space can be created for private parking in the main town.

"There is absolutely no space for private parking," rued a resident.

Asked about the problem, GTA chairman Anit Thapa said: "Yes, we too think that we need a parking space rather than shops. I have al- The Darjeeling parking plaza. Picture by KundanYolmo ready directed engineers to shops can be dismantled conduct a survey to see if the Thapa also said the park- ing space would soon be leased out.