Mandatory parking: Over 10,000 restaurants to be hit in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: More than 10,000 restaurants including food outlets in Greater Chennai will now have a problem with the court ordering the closure of restaurants without parking space as the Chennai corporation will soon upgrade its existing parking policy, said informed sources with the Ripon Buildings. According to corporation sources, restaurants in areas like T Nagar, Broadway, Puraswalkam and Egmore will be badly hit as per the recent court order.

According to Chennai Hoteliers Association president M. Ravi, there are about 20,000 small sized and medium restaurants and hotels in Chennai. “We welcome the order, as provision of parking in all the hotels is feasible. But in case of restaurants there are practical difficulties in congested areas. In such areas the corporation should provide parking areas and even in developed western cities of United States, this model is followed, he said. Both the city corporation and the police should hold a stock holders meeting as the food industry is already under stress and any adverse move would affect more than 3 lakh employees associated with the industry,” he added.  

“Most small-time restaurants cannot provide parking as they cannot afford it. People usually go for places with nice foods even if there is no parking place and government should provide parking place”, said S. Maheshwari. “The city traffic police have already written to the Chennai corporation and the corporation last week also shut down a few hotels for lacking parking space” corporation commissioner D. Karthikeyan said when contacted. “We have a parking policy in place and now this policy will be revised as per the recent court order. Parameters like the shop size, area and the number of footfalls will be taken in to consideration when the policy is revised. We are clear about the uniform policy and the stake holders will also be consulted,” the commissioner added.