Sir: Through your esteemed newspaper, I wish to draw the attention of the local government to the problem of non-availability of parking places. We are all aware of the word symbol: No Parking Zone. It simply means that you are not authorised to park your vehicle in this area. But most of the people do not understand the symbol even if they see it. Rather, they just ignore it. Recently, I went to the city court where I found no place to park my car. Most of the people had parked their vehicles in the No Parking Zone. Some parking places were only allocated to working members. I asked a man why are you parking your car in the restricted area; you could be challaned? He replied that there is no other place for parking. At last I also parked my car in the restricted area with the risk of getting challaned. But somehow, I managed to get out of there. Karachi is the largest city of the country and it is the financial hub. The latest figures show that in Karachi, 16,562 new vehicles come on the roads each month. Colony roads, parking lots, basements and open parking areas in buildings and even open spaces remain clogged up with vehicles. The total length of roads in Karachi is more than 9,500 kilometres that accommodate about 1.81 million vehicles. But the number of vehicles is increasing by 16,562 per month. That is why we find no parking places and the problem is increasing day by day. We have to find a solution to this problem. It is the duty of the government to create and manage more parking places. This can be done by making parking garages like those built in international cities. Town planners should be engaged to design places for parking in the streets.RANA HASSANKarachi