Parking lot to be built to ease Nainital traffic jams, HC told

A multi-storey parking lot will be built near the town and heavy vehicles, including buses, will not be allowed to enter Nainital during the upcoming tourist season, the district administration has told the Uttarakhand High Court.

Hearing a PIL yesterday seeking the High Court's intervention in combating traffic nuisance in the hill station during this tourist season, the court asked the SSP and District Magistrate to give their views on the matter.

Before the division bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice U C Dhyani, the SSP and the DM laid down the long term plans of the district administration to deal with heavy traffic during the tourist season.

They informed the court that a multi-storey car parking lot at Charkhet, 4 kms from Nainital on Kaladhungi road, will be built in the near future for which a sum of Rs 20 crore has already been released.

The court ordered that the Joint Magistrate, Nainital should visit and engage the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) to conduct a study to work out solutions.

Giving details of the short term plan to combat traffic problems in the upcoming season, the court was informed that general announcements will be made on banning entry of heavy vehicular traffic in Nainital from May 15 to July 15.

Only 35-seater mini buses will be allowed to enter the town during this period, the officials said.

To ensure this, the tourism department will set up 'chowkis' in collaboration with the police department at Kathgodam and Kaladhungi to keep a check on vehicles entering Nainital.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)