The old bus stand in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, July 23: The civic body has initiated steps to streamline parking of vehicles at the old bus stand, which had been vacated by Odisha State Road Transport Corporation and private bus operators from January 1, 2012.

“We will hand over the charge of parking space to the highest bidder Babuli Sahu. We will remove encroachments in the area to get more space,” said Maheswar Swain, deputy commissioner of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation. The new parking space will be made available from August 1.

However, the Berhampur Auto-Tempo Chalak Sangha and the Berhampur Taxi Owners’ Association, who are enjoying free, parking at the old bus stand, for the past few decades, are irked over the corporation’s decision.

Mirza Muntezian (Muna) general secretary of the Berhampur Auto-Tempo Chalak Sangha said the association opposed paid parking. “The auto operators are managing their families with a meagre income. Rise in petrol prices have pushed us into trouble. Some operators manage their day with only a single trip or without any. How can we afford to pay any parking fee?” Mirza said.

“We were earlier asked to park our vehicles in the trekker stand nearby by the civic body. But we were driven out later and the civic authority accommodated us at the present place. The new parking system is a financial burden for us and the only way out is that the corporation must give us a suitable space for parking our vehicles free of cost,” Mirza said.

S. Lingaraj Patra, president of the Berhampur Taxi Owners’ Association, said the members of the association were using the parking lot for decades in front of Hotel Nandan International in the Old Bus Stand and were driven out of the space in 2010 by the civic body to pave way for parking of the vehicles of the hotel.

“Now the new parking system will affect us. In spite of providing us a space for parking the taxis, the corporation is exploiting us and putting us into trouble again and again,” said Patra.

Shantanu Mishra, another member of the association, said if they had prior information regarding the proposal and floating of tender, the association could have made a bid. Babuli Sahu, who has bagged the contract said: “I have to deposit Rs 28,000 per month for the parking stand. The term starts from August 1 and is for one year,” he said.