Parking fee row: Sanjay Place traders flood AMC with RTIs

AGRA: Traders of Sanjay Place market here who have been on an indefinite strike for the last five days on Saturday sent a barrage of Right to Information (RTI) querries to

Agra

Municipal Corporation (AMC).


RTI activist Naresh Paras, on behalf of the traders, submitted 30 RTI applications at AMC concerning the parking fee charged by the civic body in Sanjay Place, the commercial hub of the city. Besides, at least 300

shopkeepers

are going to file RTIs on the subject next week.

Traders claim that AMC administration’s move to charge parking fee at 44 places in the market violates norms, as they had already paid a fee for parking at the time of purchasing the property.

The dispute over parking fee between traders of Sanjay Place and Agra Municipal Corporation (AMC) is sub judice. The traders want AMC to cancel the parking contracts till the court delivers its final orders in the matter.

Talking with TOI, Naresh Paras said, “The civic body administration has failed to take cognizance of the traders’ protest and address their legitimate questions over charging parking fee in Sanjay Place. Therefore, traders have decided to make them answer using the RTI Act. All the shopkeepers of Sanjay Place will make RTI queries with AMC.”

On Saturday afternoon, the traders staging dharna in the parking area raised slogans against the AMC administration and created a racket by beating empty utensils. Traders also criticized Mayor Naveen Jain for “backing the parking mafia”.

Hiren Agarwal, secretary of the Sanjay Place Market Association, said, “AMC has flouted norms, as traders of Sanjay Place market has already paid a fee forparking space at the time of purchasing property. It is clearly written on the registry available with the shopkeepers. The details sought under the RTI Act will reveal all the malpractices being done by the AMC administration to exploit the traders and common people.”

Association's treasurer Vinay Mittal alleged, “Despite the ongoing case at the sessions court, AMC administration had issued parking contracts for three years to people associated with BJP. AMC officials also get a share of the parking fee illegally collected from the market. We will not withdraw our protest till the AMC rolls back its decision.”

Meanwhile, BJP councilors Amit Agarwal and Deepak Agarwal along with a few businessmen organized a press conference in favour of the parking system enforced by the AMC in Sanjay Place. They said it will help curb vehicle theft, which is a major problem in Sanjay Place. Besides, systematic parking of vehicles in the busy market will ease traffic congestion.

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