Admn to hike parking charges

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 1

After the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation General House rejected the agenda to hike the paid parking charges in the city for the third time yesterday, the UT Administration is now all set to directly hike the parking charges.

A senior official of the UT Administration said they had given enough opportunities to the MC to submit a proposal for a rational hike. They had also issued a show-cause notice to the civic body for its failure to hike the parking charges and had sought a reply by December 4. However, now that the MC had rejected the agenda, the UT would decide on rationally hiking the parking charges to increase revenue generation, the official said.

Yesterday, the Congress and the BJP had opposed the agenda to hike the parking charges in the city. BJP Leader of the Opposition Arun Sood had suggested that instead of increasing the charges, the Administration should privatise it on the pattern of maintenance of roundabouts in the city. He had submitted that instead of giving the paid parking lots to contractors, the MC should hand these over to private companies. The private companies would deploy their staff and could display their advertisements on parking slips, barricades and the staff uniform. In return, the MC would get revenue from the companies and people would be able to park their vehicles free of cost, he had stated. 

What Admn wants

• Start hourly parking system in the proposed 93 parking lots in the city.
• For four-wheelers, parking charges will be Rs 10 for the first four hours and Rs 20 for up to eight hours. An amount of Rs 30 will be charged for parking a four-wheeler for up to 12 hours and for above 12 hours, Rs 40 will be charged. For two-wheelers, Rs 5 will be charged for the first four hours and
• Rs 10 for up to eight hours. For up to 12 hours, the MC will charge Rs 15 while Rs 20 will be charged if the facility is availed for above 12 hours.
• Besides, MC officials had also proposed to start e-ticketing at all paid parking lots in Chandigarh. Further, it was proposed to introduce smart cards, which would be recharged at e-Sampark centres, for paid parking.