Patna: Patna district magistrate (DM) Sanjay Kumar Agarwal on Monday convened a meeting with officials to clear the chaos at the multi-level parking near Patna Junction.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar had suggested that the district administration chalk out a to plan ease traffic. Agarwal and Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner Abhishek Singh, along with Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (BUIDCO) managing director Amrendra Prasad Singh, held a meeting with shopkeepers, the auto association and vendors to discuss the plan.

When the DM reached the venue, he lost his cool after he saw cars parked on the ground floor for months.

Agarwal said: "Why do you allow cars to be parked for a month? Most cars are covered, it means that the car is not being used and just kept for parking. This multi-level parking is an idle place to hide stolen cars because no one is bothered about it. Whoever is looking after the facility you must discontinue this practice of parking cars for months."

The DM found out that even a proper register is not maintained of the parked cars. When he asked for the register, the caretaker took almost 20 minutes to bring the register, which too was in a bad shape.

As things stands now, hardly 30 to 40 vehicles are parked against the capacity of 480 vehicles. Those managing the facility maintained that the narrow and congested approach road leading to the parking was turning out to be a major hurdle for this facility. The autos used to be parked on the same congested lane.

Later, Agarwal said: "Our motive is to utilise this multi-parking and develop it. On the instructions of the chief minister, in the next one week the entire ground floor would be used for parking autos and e-rickshaws free of cost. The rest of the area would be used for other vehicles. There would be separate entry and exit for autos and e-rickshaws."

The DM stressed that after the service starts, if any anyone is found parking in the narrow lane, then their vehicles would be seized. He also ordered for a computerised system to maintain the parking facility apart from installation of closed-circuit television cameras.