Civic body defers hourly parking charges in Chandigarh

Chandigarh, April 2

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) has decided to defer the implementation of hourly parking charges. The decision was taken after the inspection of parking lots. During the inspection, it was found that both parking contractors are yet to implement smart parking features.

The parking lots in the city are divided into two zones. As many as 32 parking lots are in Zone 1 and 57 in Zone 2. The MC had auctioned both zones for nearly Rs10 crore annually.

In October last year, the MC had directed the parking contractors to install all smart features in 89 parking lots within a month as new parking charges will be applicable only after installation of smart features in the parking lots.

However, the MC had to extend the deadline several times as the contractors had failed to put in place smart features.

After the implementation of hourly charges, parking fee for the first four hours will remain the same as being charged at present – Rs5 for two-wheelers and Rs10 for four-wheelers. Thereafter, these will be doubled. The charges will further be doubled if vehicles are kept parked beyond 12 hours. There will be free entry for pick and drop in the first 10 minutes.

The smart features include e-ticketing, HD night vision CCTV cameras at exit/entry points, smartcard-based daily and monthly passes, provision for e-payment, LED display of real-time occupancy at entry points and online booking of parking space through app. — TNS