Parking ‘mafia’ fleecing visitors

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 20

Enter Rajindra Hospital in Patiala and you are bound to pay the parking fee to the private contractor even though you have come just to pick or drop a patient. 

As soon as you enter the hospital through the front gate, the contractor’s men surround you and confrontation starts if you try to reason things out. Sources reveal that the contractor is overcharging at the hospital. On Friday, The Tribune team found that the employee of the private contractor was charging Rs 20 for every car that entered the hospital. Not only this, two-wheelers and cars are being charged double the amount. The contractor, who apparently got the job through bidding, is overcharging. He is supposed to charge only the recently revised rates of Rs 10 for four-wheelers, Rs 5 for two-wheelers and Rs 3 for cycles. Surprisingly, the authorities are aware of the malpractice, but nothing has been done for months. The hospital authorities seemingly have turned a blind eye to this ‘extortion’ because all students, staff and doctors at the hospital have been ‘exempted’ from paying the parking fee. In fact, out of four gates, only the front gate remains open. Patients and their attendants complain that since only one gate remains open, they have to cover more distance to enter the hospital. They demanded that all other gates be opened immediately to alleviate the hardships of patients and their relatives.

Moreover, once you enter the hospital premises, it is you, who have to find space for your vehicle because the contractor’s men will not help you.

Private parking owner Karamjit Singh, however, said: “Every vehicle has to pay parking fee whether they park or not. Four-wheeler owners can park their vehicle anywhere in the hospital wherever they find space.”

No rate list

An important part of the contract — prominent display of legitimate rates of parking — at several places is violated with impunity. Even the parking receipt fails to show the actual and the correct rates that are to be charged.

An employee of the contractor at the gate said: “Everyone who enters the hospital has to pay.” Frustrated and angry at the high-handedness of the contractor, Bhupinder Singh, a visitor, said: “In these state of affairs, the authorities should immediately stop paid parking at the Rajindra Hospital.”

He said: “The state government claims to be offering free treatment at the hospital, but it is grave injustice to force people to pay even before they enter the hospital. What’s worse, you have to pay even though you don’t get a parking space.”