MC set to cancel contract of all 23 parking lots in city

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 4

The Municipal Corporation is all set to cancel the contract of all paid parking lots across the city. Sources said after the Vigilance probe into the overcharging and other violations by the paid parking lot contractor of Elante Mall, UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev had reportedly directed MC officials to change the entire paid parking system to check fleecing of the public.

Yesterday, a senior MC official had inspected various parking lots and detected a number of violations. The sources said on the basis of the inspection report, MC officials were now preparing a proposal for cancelling the contract of all 23 paid parking lots after giving them a one-month notice period. The MC was planning to complete this exercise by October 15. The sources said in the new tenders, the MC would also include a clause for cancelling the parking lot contract after two violations, as proposed by the UT Vigilance Department.

The UT Adviser said clauses would be included in the terms and conditions of the contract for protecting the public rights. Fleecing of the common man would not be allowed at any cost. MC officials would regularly inspect parking lots and strict action would be taken against violators, he said.

Installation of e-ticketing machines and CCTV cameras would be mandatory. The final decision on the recommendations in the Vigilance report to improve the paid parking system would be taken by MC officials, he said.

MC Commissioner Bhawna Garg said they were reviewing the paid parking system. Many proposals were under consideration, she said.

Now, UT to begin probe against other contractors

A senior official of the UT Administration said after the Vigilance probe against the Elante Mall parking lot contractor, the UT would initiate a probe against other contractors as well.

The data had been compiled and after directions from the UT Adviser, the inquiry would be initiated against them.

MC had terminated licences of two contractors

After the Vigilance probe, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation had terminated the licences of two parking lots — Elante Mall and Sukhna Lake — as the replies submitted by both contractors to the show-cause notices issued by the MC were found to be unsatisfactory. Recently, the MC had auctioned these lots to new contractors.