Kirron’s word on fee too little, too late: Bansal

Chandigarh, February 20 

Former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is one of the contenders for the Congress ticket for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, has demanded that the management of parking lots in the city be handed over to market welfare associations and residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) as the case may be.

Terming the announcement made by MP Kirron Kher about reduction in the parking charges as too little, too late, Bansal said the decision was taken only as people were angry with the UT Administration and the MC for messing up the parking issue. He reiterated that the parking firm had been unduly favoured by permitting a four-fold increase in the fee —first from Rs 5 to Rs 10 and later to Rs 20 — in a very short span. “The result is that while residents have been forcibly made to pay high parking fee without any commensurate service, the contractor seems to have got away without paying the MC dues to the tune of over Rs 3 crores,” he said.

Bansal said the MC would now shift its staff deployed elsewhere to the parking lots, affecting other works. He asserted that handing over the management of parking facilities to the respective market associations and RWAs would relieve the civic body of this responsibility and encourage public participation in civic activities. — TNS

Probe parking contract: Chhabra

• City Congress president Pardeep Chhabra demanded a judicial and CBI probes into the parking contract.
• In a statement issued here, he said it was due to the upcoming elections that MP Kirron Kher was forced to visit a parking lot. It has been two years that the firm had been running these parking lots and now she said there were no smart facilities. 
• “If only she had gone there earlier city residents would not have been cheated on the pretext of smart parking. Who is responsible for heavy parking fees - the MP, mayors or BJP councillors,” he asked. 
• Chhabra said Kirron staged a drama to earn sympathy of people ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
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