Green solution to parking problem at Vidhana Soudha

The Legislative Council and Assembly secretariats have decided to run a battery-operated vehicle service covering Legislators’ Home, Vidhana Soudha and Vikas Soudha.

A tender will soon be called for the purchase of at least three vehicles, one for the Council and two for the Assembly, official sources said. The Council Secretariat had provided the ferry service during the recent Legislature session for its members on a pilot basis. Maini Materials Movement Pvt Ltd, a private company which is commercially providing the service for visitors in Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, had operated a vehicle during the session.

Brainchild

The ferry service is the brainchild of Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankara murthy, who believes that it will go a long way in solving the parking problem in the Vidhana Soudha premises, besides preventing air pollution.

On receiving good response from the members, the Council decided to adopt it and has commenced the tender process to purchase a 11-seater vehicle, which is estimated to cost about Rs 10 lakh. The Assembly wants to follow suit and is planning to buy at least two such vehicles for its members, sources said.

Original plan

The original plan was to provide the service only at the time of the sessions, when a majority of the legislators are stationed at the Legislators' Home and go around the secretariat to get works related to their constituencies done. It is during this time the parking problem is acute in the Vidhana Soudha premises, officials said.

However, the plan was modified to make the service available round the year.

Tough competition

Though sufficient parking space is available at Vikasa Soudha, none of the legislators want to park their vehicles there. Legislators vie with each other in parking their vehicles, most of them high-end four-wheelers, near the Kengal Hanumanthaiah statue of Vidhana Soudha.

Ferry service

Once the project is implemented, sources said, the Legislature secretariat will insist that the legislators park their vehicles at the Legislators' Home and use the ferry service to enter the Vidhana Soudha premises.