Srinagar, Aug 15: In a goodwill gesture ahead of upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, the Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) is organizing a first of its kind Sangarmaal Eid Festival at state-of-the-art shopping mall. And for those shoppers who are often irked for not finding proper space to park their vehicles in and around MA Road, the SDA is offering a mega parking lot for around 2000 vehicles just behind the shopping plaza at MA Link Road.
 The SDA’s twin endeavors are expected to give more of life to Sangarmaal and equally make the shopping convenient for shoppers.

THE AWARENESS
 SDA has started a massive campaign to make the event a success.  “Keeping in view the heavy rush of people and vehicles expected around Lal Chowk, MA Road, Residency Road, Polo View, Regal Chowk, Munawarabad and other adjoining areas for Eid shopping in general and Sangarmaal Eid Festival in particular, SDA has, on the directions of Vice-Chairman, made special parking arrangements for around 2000 light vehicles near its prestigious shopping plaza Sangarmaal City Centre, MA Link Road,” reads a copy of the public notification.
 “Parking facility will be available at a discounted rate of Rs 5 per vehicle from 16th August 2012 to 31st August 2012 and the entry to the parking lot would be from the Bund side of the MA Link road,” said the SDA people said.

MEGA PARKING ENDEAVOR
 It is for the first time that SDA has offered such a huge space for parking of vehicles. Sources said the decision to club the parking facility bonanza with the Sangarmaal Eid festival was taken during a meeting chaired by the SDA VC, Khawaja Farooq RenzuShah wherein it was resolved that shortage of space to park vehicles was big inconvenience people confront during the festive shopping.
 Confirming this RenzuShah said: “This has often been seen that people face inconvenience in parking their vehicles during festive shopping as the rush swells manifold. So we decided that the mega parking would be offered as a bonanza.”
 RenzuShah said this would “equally hone the habit among people to park their vehicles at designated lots.”

TRADERS ELATED
 Shopkeepers at not only at Sangarmaal but in the adjoining markets as well have welcomed the SDA initiative. “Providing additional parking is a truly goodwill gesture. It will boost our business prospects,” Sangarmaal Shopkeepers Association President, Manzoor Mir told Greater Kashmir.
 The traders there have been hailing the SDA VC for giving a new life Sangarmaal, which they said was “a dead horse till the spring of this year”.
 Some two months back the SDA had organized a Sangarmaal festival which attracted huge rush of people to the shopping plaza. The festival coincided with Finesse of Traditions (FT), a short-lived exotic exhibition-cum-sale of famed Pakistani clothing brands, which also contributed to the rise in footfall at the shopping plaza.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 15 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 15 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST