Parking for a premium

This December, motorists would have to bid adieu to the habit of leaving vehicles haphazardly on thoroughfares with the year gone by. The proposed pay-and-park system would be introduced across the city within a month.

A proposal in this regard was passed on Monday in the “peaceful” meeting of the standing committee of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), chaired by mayor Afzal Imam. A senior civic body officer said: “The security deposit for the different parking locations would be fixed within a fortnight and the corresponding tenders would be floated soon after. Since the parking lots have been identified, a proposal has been passed to implement the system within a month.”

The pay-and-park system is proposed to be implemented at 51 locations on 17 roads. It would ensure parking of over 1,600 vehicles. The parking charges would be Rs 10 for the first hour and Rs 5 for every additional hour or part of it.

The PMC standing committee members also arrived on a consensus to consult Patna traffic police regarding installation of signals in the city. The budget of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) has provision for allocation of Rs 4 crore for traffic lights.

A decision to prepare a detailed plan and estimates for setting up pyaos (drinking water kiosks) and urinals in the city was taken in the meeting. The proposal for setting up urinals across the city has been sent to the civic body by Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo).

The standing committee meeting also brought joy to PMC employees as the panel decided to hike their dearness allowance (DA) and pension schemes as notified recently by the state government. A decision on the implementation of the minimum wages of the Class IV employees as prescribed by the labour department was also taken in the meeting.

The standing committee decided to conduct a special meeting on the new Patna sewage project. The managing director of BUIDCo would brief the members on the project details. He would also apprise them of the status of the ongoing Patna water supply project.

National Ganga River Basin Authority has approved Rs 500 crore last week for the sewage project, which entails construction of 1,600-km-long sewage pipeline and two new sewage treatment plants in the city.

The Patna Municipal Corporation panel also decided to prepare a detailed project report on the development of Transport Nagar, but there was no discussion on the move to stop the salary of the municipal commissioner in the last meeting of the standing committee on December 5.

On the mayor’s alleged demand for names of all roads and parks in the city, councillor Abha Lata said: “Mayor Imam wants the names of only the main roads, especially those renamed recently by the state government.”