Parking violations rampant in Barwa Village, say tenants

By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter

 A section of commercial and residential tenants of Barwa Village has spoken out against those “hijacking” shaded car parking slots in the sprawling complex.

They accuse the “encroachers” – who are mostly fellow tenants themselves- of repeated cross and wrong parking. They also point out that some of the other parking slots in the complex, which are without cover, have been “usurped”. Besides, it is understood that the place is also used by some people to abandon their old vehicles.

Speaking to Gulf Times, an aggrieved trader blamed some commercial as well as residential tenants for wrong parking and thus making the situation difficult for others.

Another entrepreneur said a number of automobile accessory and tyre shops had moved to the complex in recent months and some of them had “taken over” shaded parking slots belonging to other tenants during the day for their work.

Similarly, some of the families that owned more than one vehicle parked their additional cars wrongly. Such practices were causing difficulty to other tenants, particularly those to whom some of these slots had been originally allotted.

Yet another outlet operator said the situation was worse around Building 18, where a number of auto accessory and similar shops are located. He said some vehicles had been parked in the shaded slots for months.

“These issues are causing numerous problems for shop owners and other tenants in the complex,” he said, seeking the intervention of the Barwa Village authorities to curb such practices.

Meanwhile, a shop owner said he has noticed in recent weeks that vehicles that are wrongly parked during the day are kept properly in their allotted slots later in the evening. “This makes us believe that many of the wrongly-parked or cross-parked vehicles belong to residents of the complex,” he added.

Accusing some car rental firms of occupying parking lots belonging to other tenants, an outlet operator said: “Most of these firms have several vehicles and they park their cars in shaded parking lots meant for other tenants.”