HIKE HARASSMENT

Bhubaneswar, April 17: The municipal corporation's decision to hike parking fees without prior notice has annoyed commuters.

While parking charges for two-wheelers have gone up from Rs 2 to Rs 5 and auto-rickshaws will need to pay Rs 10 instead of Rs 5. Car owners will have to shell out Rs 20, double what they used to pay earlier.

The revised rates allow two-wheelers to park for four hours, but for cars it is only two hours. Vehicles parked beyond the specified hour will have to pay double the amount.

Bijay Mishra, a resident of Nayapalli, said: "The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation should have put up display boards notifying people about the revised fees."

Mrutyunjay Tripathy, a resident of Soubhagya Nagar, is equally annoyed. Hesaid though parking fees for cars had been hiked, parking hour remains the same.

"The civic body should have notified it earlier. If I was aware, I would have brought my two-wheeler instead of the car," he said.

Corporation's deputy commissioner (in-charge of parking) Subhranshu Mishra said: "We have already obtained the permission of the state government to enforce the hike and users charges for garbage collection and the notification was published in the Odisha Gazette in February this year. This will help the civic body earn a little more."

Mishra, however, admitted that display boards should have been put up near the parking lots so that commuters could take notice.

"We will ask all vendors to put boards even near lots under the supervision of our own people in next three to four days."

However, there is confusion among corporation officials on the issue.

Contradicting Mishra, a senior corporation official, who also takes care of parking issues, said: "We have not permitted any vendor to collect the enhanced fees. Only after we notify them are they eligible to do so. Only four lots managed by the municipal corporation parking staff are collecting the revised fees."

However, a vendor Jogi Bhoi said the civic body had caused delay in bringing out the notification. "But we should not suffer because of this," he said.

There are 80 parking lots across the city but this year nearly 30 have been auctioned.

"However, we are not finding any vendor for some of the parking lots. Therefore, we will have to call for fresh bids. The rest of the lots are managed by parking staff of the civic body."

Sources said the municipal corporation had earned Rs 1.08 crore from parking fees in 2014-15. "We may touch the magic figure of Rs 2 crore now that the fees have been hiked. However, all depends on how many parking lots are actually chosen by vendors through auction," said BMC parking supervisor K.M. Das.

Shakti Mohanty, a resident of Old Town, said: "Even if the auction process for all designated lots is not yet over and BMC has to start collecting the revised parking rates, then also they have to put proper display boards near the locations."