Parking firm pays dues in protest

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 19

It seems that the increased parking charges are here to stay as the parking firm on Thursday submitted a pending quarterly license fee of Rs 2.69 crore to the Municipal Corporation as a protest. Arya Toll Infra Limited has urged the MC to provide the missing basic amenities at several parking lots in one month. It also assured the civic body to fulfill whatever is lacking on its part during that period. The advance payment is for the months of April, May and June.

“We deposited the full payment to the civic body as a protest and have asked the MC to provide basic things such as street lights and proper roads and parking lots should be made free of vendors in one month. In case, these things are not improved, we will file a recovery suit against the MC. We have also given them an MoU regarding the same,” said Sandeep Bhora, company coordinator.

MC’s Joint Commissioner Tejdeep Singh Saini, who authorised the parking firm to double the charges keeping the Mayor in the dark, has gone elusive. Repeated attempts to contact him have remained futile. Saini had to cut a sorry figure as he failed to convince the House in the last meeting that why the rates have been doubled even when there are a number of discrepancies in parking spaces.

Mayor Davesh Moudgil said: “I have been making persistent efforts due to which the firm has at least paid the money. However, the firm has failed to improve things at the parking lots.”The corporation on Wednesday served a showcase notice on the company to clear its pending dues by Friday evening, failing which the contract termination process was to be followed.