Pay to park from today

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, June 18

The parking chaos in the city is set to end as Arya Toll Infra Ltd will take over the management of all 26 parking lots from tomorrow.

The company has appointed over 300 employees for the purpose. Women outnumber men as the company has hired over 60 per cent  women employees. Sandeep Vohra, project director, said the company had deputed around 175 women employees while the  number of men employees  was 145. The parking lots will run  from 8 am to midnight.

No free pass will be allowed initially. The company will issue "card-based" monthly passes  from July 1. Motorists can recharge the card online. Till the cards are issued, manual monthly passes will be  issued to the motorists. As many as 2,100 residents have already applied for the  monthly pass.

The parking places have been without a contractor for over a year, leading to a huge loss to the MC and chaos for the public.

Mumbai-based Arya Toll Infra Limited has been allotted the parking contract for Rs 14.78 crore. This time, the MC had decided to give the management of the parking lots to one company rather than small contractors, who failed to live up to the expectations of residents.

The company will charge the existing rates — Rs 2 for two-wheelers and Rs 5 for four-wheelers — for the next three months. The new rates on an hourly basis will be charged after complete infrastructure is set up at the parking lots. Owners of vehicles will not be  charged at the entry point and will have to pay at the  exit point. The parking lots will be managed through a mobile app, which will not only mark the attendance of the employees but will also help issue slips. The company will also start a toll-free number for residents to lodge complaints.