Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The pink parking zone, meant only for women bikers at New Market in the city, has gone blue and is struggling to catch breath.
Shops have developed around it, and men have encroached upon the parking lot set up in 2017.
When it was set up, women in the state capital were delighted and welcomed it, because it was something new to them.
Nevertheless, after several shops have come up around the parking space, it has lost its purpose.
Bhopal Municipal Corporation, which inaugurated the pink parking zone with much fanfare, is not taking care of it.
According to some locals, the parking lot is not functioning anymore. The women bikers who used to park their two-wheelers in the zone are again facing problems.
A shopkeeper near the pink parking zone at New Market, Keshav Lal Singh, said the maintenance of the pink parking zone had been given to a contractor.
Since his contractor has ended, there is nobody to look after it, Singh said, adding that everybody parks their two-wheelers in this area.
Similarly, an employee of a private firm Pallavi Sharma said the pink parking had not been properly maintained.
“I don’t park my vehicle there, and the authorities concerned are not doing anything to maintain it,” Sharma said.
A student of a private college Anjali Rawat said although the pinking parking zone was meant for women, everyone was keeping their bikes in that place, because the authorities are barely concerned about it.
The district administration has planned to set up another pink parking zone near Curfew Mata Mandir.
Once it comes up, there will be two pink parking zones in Bhopal.
Planning To Restart It Soon : Choudhary
Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner KVS Choudhary, the pink parking zone has been closed for a while, since many shops have come up, and a bank complex is under construction there. “We are planning to start it very soon,” Choudhary said.
