With the Onam rush intensifying, the police have identified 25 locations offering free parking for over 2,495 cars and deployed special squads to remove illegally parked vehicles. The emergency measures have once again exposed the city’s long-standing shortage of organised parking facilities and the slow progress of projects aimed at addressing it.

The additional parking spaces are expected to ease pressure on the city’s roads during the festival season. Enforcement teams have also been tasked with clearing unauthorised roadside parking to ensure smoother traffic movement.

However, the temporary arrangements come against the backdrop of the city’s failure to create adequate permanent parking capacity. Drivers’ union leaders point out that two multi-level car parking projects, one along Railway Station Link Road and another at Kidson Corner, remain far from completion, leaving the traffic police struggling to manage parking in the absence of adequate infrastructure.

“The Link Road project, envisaged to accommodate about 700 cars and 800 motorcycles, has been awaiting completion for more than eight years. It has remained stalled despite a second foundation stone-laying ceremony, raising doubts over when the facility will become available to motorists,” says a retired traffic police officer in Kozhikode city.

According to taxi operators and private bus drivers in the city, the problem is compounded by the slow progress of a much larger mobility hub proposed by the Motor Vehicles department (MVD) between Malaparamba and Thondayad junctions. First proposed by the Kozhikode Regional Transport Office in 2012 as a long-term solution to the city’s traffic and parking problems, the ₹122-crore project was envisaged to accommodate more than 3,000 cars, 20,000 motorcycles, 200 buses and 200 contract carriages. A multi-level parking facility at the Palayam bus stand was also part of the broader plan.

Meanwhile, MVD sources say the mobility hub, proposed as a public-private partnership, has lost momentum due to a lack of funds to prepare the Detailed Project Report and stalled negotiations over land acquisition. An earlier decision by the Kozhikode Corporation to engage Kochi Metro Rail Limited to prepare a preliminary project report also failed to progress after the transfer of senior officials coordinating the initiative, they said.

At the same time, Corporation sources confirm that efforts are on to identify accessible revenue land within the city limits to develop additional parking spots. Priority will be given to suitable sites near Kozhikode beach, they say.

Published - August 23, 2026 07:07 pm IST