‘Civic body takes over parking lots but charges stay high’

Ludhiana: Despite the fact that the MC has taken over parking lots in the city, people visiting markets are still complaining of overcharging. These days, the civic body is handling parking lots at its level and the process of hiring private contractors is going on. However, residents complained that civic officials had not made much of an effort to resolve issues.
The civic body is organising e-auction of parking sites, including the ones in Sarabha Nagar main market, multi-storey parking, Feroze Gandhi market, Model Town Extension, BRS Nagar market, the area from Jagraon bridge to Dholewal (both sides), from Dholewal to Sherpur chowk and Gill road underbridge. This time, officials have introduced hourly parking at all parking sites. The e-auction process for these sites is going on. Results will be declared on October 20.
Incidentally, the issue with these parking lots has always been overcharging by private contractors. Civic officials claimed to have cancelled the agreement with private contractors but no changes are visible on the ground. This has not gone down well with residents.
A businessman and resident of Sarabha Nagar, Rahul Verma said, “the MC is running these parking lots but overcharging is being reported. They do not have fear of vigilance and there is the possibility of involvement of senior officials.”
A resident alleged that the MC was indulging in the same practice it had barred before. City resident Naveen Jindal said, “In BRS Nagar parking lot, I was given Rs 10 parking receipt but they took Rs 20 from me. These are manual receipts even though the civic body had imposed conditions for parking contractors stopping them from issuing manual receipts. Now, MC staff is doing the same. There is no check on these irregularities. Despite so many complaints, there is no change in the actual picture.”
When contacted, MC secretary Tajinder Singh said, “I received some complaints earlier also but nothing concrete was found on verification. I will check the sites again.”