Bhubaneswar, May 23: Several new parking lots in new locations of the city have left citizens fuming.

People manning these parking spaces, many of which are located close to medicine shops, hospitals and educational institutions, are forcing people to cough up fees even if the vehicles are parked for a few minutes.

The municipal corporation recently awarded contracts to private vendors for the management of as many as 23 off-street parking lots at various locations across the city.

"I went to buy some medicines from a drug store near Keshari Hotel. When I parked my motorcycle, a man came up and demanded parking fees," said Chidananda Jena, a resident of the city.

Arguing that it hardly took him five minutes to go and get his medicines from the shop, Jena said he resented paying parking fees for such a short duration. "This is a popular medicine shop that draws a large number of customers. They should be collecting parking fees at malls and cinemas where people go and stay for a long time," he said.

Similar problems occurred at another off-street parking site identified by the civic body near a major corporate hospital in Acharya Vihar. Since the hospital has its own parking lot on the premises, it makes little sense for the corporation to have a parking lot there, said Priya Ranjan Mekap, a resident of Vani Vihar.

"This is illogical on part of the municipal corporation. This new parking site near this hospital makes no sense because if I have to go to place, I will park my vehicle inside. If I have to visit shops in the vicinity, I will park near the stores instead of using the corporation's parking lot," he said.

People had similar complaints about the new parking sites near Rama Devi Women's University and a major private educational institution at Bhouma Nagar.

Apart from such problems caused by off-street parking lots, the on-street ones have added to the woes of the residents by causing traffic snarls. The municipal corporation has identified five new on-street parking sites, most of which are situated along the busy Janpath. Several major government and corporate offices, the railway station, malls, jewellery shops and some big food chains are located along the Janpath.

"This is the busiest stretch of the city. The new street parking facilities - mainly from Sriya to Master Canteen Square - have only made the traffic situation worse," said Biswa Mahana, a corporate employee.

In March, the municipal corporation had identified the new parking sites in its three administrative zones. As many as 28 on and off-street parking sites were identified in North, South-East and South-West Zones of the corporation. The sites have been identified mainly for parking of two and four-wheelers.

"We have undertaken a survey and according to the requirements of the people and eligibility of the locations, we have identified these sites for parking. However, we will take another look at the identified sites and try to fix the problems of the residents," said a senior civic body official.