Struggling to find space to walk, resident's of South Delhi's Saket area claim that some roads and service lanes have been held hostage by the parking mafias operating in the locality. Many also blame the absence of proper parking space at banks and other commercial establishments for the parking peril in the area. For over years, the residents have been raising concerns regarding the illegal parking issue in the locality which has been troubling the commuters in vehicles and even the ones walking. "We have been complaining to every possible authority to make sure that our locality is free from the parking mafia, but all for no avail," said Prashant Asthana, a resident of Saket B block. While parking mafia is a concern, residents feel that lack of parking space at banks and educational institutions along with the commercial establishments has been a bigger issue to tackle for both residents and the authorities. DNA spoke to a few visitors of a bank in Saket's E block. Most of the visitors had parked their vehicles outside the bank's entry gate or on the service lane on which the bank was situated on. "I just need to deposit money, will take 5 minutes. Moreover, there is no parking facility in the bank itself, so this is the only option left," said Bharat Bhushan Bansal, who was parking his vehicle on the service lane to visit the bank. Apart from banks, the residents claim that schools in the area have also been a matter of concern as parents who come to pick up or drop their children park their vehicles on roads, leaving very little or no room for others to pass. "Every day, one can see the jams within 500 meters of these schools in morning and afternoon, when the parents come to pick up or to drop their children," said Vineet Batra, a resident of Saket. Talking about the solutions, residents have suggestions to offer, creating underground parking and arranging daily patrol by traffic police personnel being some. "The authorities must plan on constructing underground parking and also increasing the patrol by traffic police personnel to make sure illegally parked vehicles are towed away," added Batra. Meanwhile, traffic personnel in the area have been blaming an increased number of vehicles in the are for the peril.

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