There seems to be no end to the parking crisis around the Golden Temple, locals say.To tide over the shortage, PUDA had handed over two parking lots to the Municipal Corporation, but that too failed to serve the purpose.“The situation turns from bad to worse on weekends and holidays, with finding parking space becoming a tedious task,” said the localsThe shortage of parking has resulted in the mushrooming of unauthorised and private parking lots in various parts of the city.Left with no choice, visitors pay hefty fee in these private parking lots.Meanwhile, the MC has identified two more parking sites and plans to invite tenders for them next week. These include the parking site opposite Rani Ka Bagh on the district court complex side and the parking lot at Guru Nanak Bhawan.The contract for the Guru Nanak Bhawan parking lot has, for the time being, been given to the existing contractor with a 10 per cent increase over the previous contract amount.The parking site near the district court complex is currently lying vacant. Earlier, the MC had allotted five parking sites on its own. These included parking areas at Machhi Mandi, both sides of Kacheri Chowk, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Market, Telephone Exchange and the old Sabzi Mandi.The civic body is alsomanaging two major parking lots at Saragarhi and Kesari Bagh.The Saragarhi parking lot can accommodate around 900 vehicles, while the Kesari Bagh facility has space for around 300 vehicles. The civic body has deployed its clerical staff along with the outsourced workers in both locations and prepared a duty roaster.At present, the MC has no plan to give the Saragarhi and Kesari Bagh parking lots on contract. Both facilities were handed over to the civic body by PUDA in July this year. The MC started collecting parking fee at Saragarhi from July 23 and at Kesari Bagh from the middle of August. The two parking lots are generating around Rs 1.30 lakh revenue every day.“With the number of devotees rising sharply during weekends and holidays, the city continues to need more organised and affordable parking facilities near the Golden Temple to prevent visitors from being forced to rely on unauthorised parking operators,” said Parmjeet Singh. a volunteer of Sewak Jatha in Darbar Sahib.City residents said the parking shortage was also affecting vehicular movement. With the parking space being limited, many visitors and motorists are forced to park their vehicles along roads, leading to traffic jams and inconvenience for commuters.Ravi, another resident, said the traffic police should first ensure adequate parking facilities near busy areas and then declare those tow-away zones.