Parking shortage hits Vidhana Soudha; Karnataka's MLAs and MLCs demand space

The parking shortage has hit the Vidhana Soudha. MLC's demand extra space and complain about the middlemen entering the premises, misusing the vehicle passes given by representatives. H K Patil assures suitable solution to the ongoing issue.

Thousand of visitors visit Karnataka's Vidhana Soudha every day. But as the number of visitors increases, parking space has been decreasing. So much so that, at times, even elected representatives find it difficult to find parking. The issue was raised in the state assembly by MLC DS Arun during the Zero Hour on Tuesday.

Arun raised this issue during the debate in the Vidhana Parishad regarding issues at the toll gates of the highway. He said, "Most of the visitors carry passes to visit Vidhana Soudha. Nobody knows if they are original or fake ones, or issued by the elected representatives. This is creating a huge issue with traffic and parking on the premises."

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MLCs T A Saravana, Y A Narayanaswamy, Shahil Namoshi and others supported the statement. This is a straight issue of misuse of vehicle passes that has led to chaos at parking, they said. 

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil responded by saying that it is the middlemen who are responsible for the issue. They use MLAs' names while entering Soudha. We will soon put a full stop to this behaviour, said Patil at Vidhana Parishad.

Later, MLC P Muniraju retaliated by asking the minister about the meaning of ‘Middlemen’. To which Patil commented, "It’s a known fact that all types of people enter the Vidhana Soudha. Be it power brokers or common people."

The minister assured the Parishad that each and every aspect of efforts will be made to put a complete full stop on this issue. 

MLC T A Sharavana suggested that there should be a QR Code-based entry into the Vidhana Soudha premises to prevent such further issues.