3 held for running fake parking racket

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 23

The Estate Wing of the Municipal Corporation (MC) today arrested three persons for issuing MC parking slips illegally to visitors outside the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office on the court road. Their kingpin is still roaming freely as the police haven’t received any complaint against him.

The arrest was made on the complaint of MC officials. The accused have been identified as Suraj Sharma, a resident of Jagdambe Colony on Majitha Road, Sukhwinder Kumar alias Sonu of Rasolpur Kalar near Jaura Fatak and Suraj Singh of Ram Nagar Colony, Islamabad.

Jaswinder Singh, Estate Officer, MC, said the civic body did not allot the parking contract outside DC office for 2017-18. The accused had been issuing receipts illegally. “The road leading to the airport is quite narrow as an elevated road has been constructed over the road. Vehicles can’t be parked on the narrow road as it leads to traffic congestion. Keeping in mind the free flow of traffic on the airport road, we did not float tenders this year. Meanwhile, some persons started charging from the visitors without any approval from the MC. During a checking, we found that they were using the name of MC to loot people,” he said.

The receipts they issued read ‘MCA District Court Car Parking’. They had been charging Rs 15 for two-wheelers and Rs 30 for cars.

The arrested persons are employees of someone, but the police haven’t got any complaint against him.

A large number residents visit the offices of the district administration and district courts complex that don’t have sufficient parking space. Earlier, the MC used to allot parking contract to private contractors, but they didn’t this year as the road is congested. The DC office has allotted parking contract on another stretch on the Cantonment road.