Hyderabad: Techies are being kept on waiting lists with hundreds of names for parking slots at their offices, which have run out of place. Vehicles are allowed inside the campus only if they have a parking sticker alloted to them by their company along with their ID cards.
To get a parking sticker, a techie needs to file a request with the facilities team that allocates slots on a first come first serve basis.
Ms A.V. Devi, working out of Raheja Mindspace, who switched to a new firm last month, said, “There are more than 300 people before me waiting for a parking sticker. Either these people have to withdraw their request or leave the organisation for me to get one.”
It is mostly techies who work in shifts that start after 11 am that find it difficult to find parking space.
Software engineer K Ravi, who faces a similar problem at the healthcare company with whom he works, said, “The waiting list is only increasing, even though employees work in multiple shifts. The employees working in shifts after 11.30 am have to bear the brunt. Companies provide transport facility for staff on shifts that work at at odd times. For employees of shifts in normal hours, they charge some money. It is cost effective for people who stay nearby to use their own vehicles.”
With no parking space, techies park their vehicles on the roadside. The police then penalises these vehicles. Vehicles are regularly seen parked outside the Deloitte office, on the Lemon Tree-CII road, and next to pavement near Inorbit Mall.
While developers follow government norms as far as providing parking space is concerned, companies are adding more staff that the built-up area can accommodate.
A developer of a large working space said, “Developers are taking all precautions as per the stipulated norms but the IT area is getting cluttered. Every employee cannot get a parking slot.”
He said people had stopped using cabs and carpooling, which was causing chaos. “We are trying to create awareness but we cannot force them. Hope the Metro Rail and strengthening of public transport will help,” he said.
Lack of visitor parking adds to the chaos. Unwary visitors find it almost impossible to find parking space in the office blocks.
Mr Sandeep Kumar Makthala of Telangana IT Association said, “It is true that there is dearth of parking space. Cyber Towers has to purchase additional parking as the decades-old building is unable to cater to parking needs. Similar is situation at DLF and Mindspace. Techies need to utilise cabs and the end-to-end services through TSRTC and Metro Rail have to increase.”
Vehicles are often locked when they are parked on the roadside for more than five minutes.
Cyberabad DCP, traffic, Vijay Kumar said, “For some small companies, there is limited parking. We have brought the issue to the notice of the TSIIC and infrastructure owner concerned, urging them to increase parking space regularly.”
He said arranging external parking space was the only solution. “Visitors often park their vehicles in front of almost every company and we inform the security guards. If the vehicles are parked regularly, we issue challans.”
TSIIC officials were unavailable for immediate comment.
