Bhubaneswar, Oct. 20: Pandal hoppers this Puja will most likely find themselves struggling to park their vehicles. Many fear being fleeced by goons running illegal parking lots, which mushroom in the festive season.

Parking problems during the Puja is the most acute in Saheed Nagar, Nayapalli and CRP areas, where crowds swell during the evenings and traffic very often goes out of control.

“This has been the experience of the past. There is hardly any space around the pandals to park vehicles. Goons set up illegal parking lots and extort money from people,” said Sambit Mohapatra, a college student.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is aware of the problem, but given the civic body’s limited manpower, can do little about it. BMC sources said the corporation had 16 people to look after parking lots in the city, most of which have been leased out to private contractors.

“With this kind of staff strength, we cannot put an effective check on illegal parking lots or on people fleecing vehicle owners. We will need at least around 40 people to manage parking in the city where 13 parking lots are catering to the needs of people,” said a corporation official. The official said the corporation had created temporary parking lots on occasions such as fairs, but they avoided doing so during the Pujas for want of adequate manpower.

On the other hand, the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police’s recent drive during which vehicles parked in unauthorised places were towed away has generated resentment among the residents.

“When there are not enough parking lots in the city, the police should not carry out such drives. They just don’t know how much we are suffering,” said Sanatan Behra, a resident of Saheed Nagar. According to BMC guidelines, parking fee for bicycles and two-wheelers is Re 1 and Rs 2 respectively and that for four-wheelers and heavy vehicles is Rs 10 and Rs 20 respectively.

These charges are for parking of the vehicles for four hours in the BMC parking lots. However, unscrupulous elements running illegal parking lots collect Rs 10 and Rs 20 from people for their two wheelers and four wheelers respectively.

Sources in the BMC said the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police have identified more than 20 places along the Janpath (Sishu Bhavan Square to Vani Vihar Square), Vidyut Marg (Raj Bhavan Square to Patia) and Sachivalay Marg (AG Square to Acharya Vihar Square) for creating new parking lots. However, work on these can be taken up only after the Pujas.

City mayor Anant Narayan Jena said the civic body was trying its best to create more parking lots. “We have been trying hard to create more parking lots. During the Puja, people can park their vehicles at the 13 existing parking lots in the city,” he said.

However, senior police officials in the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar police said parking would be the biggest challenge during the Pujas.

“We will ensure that the vehicles are parked on the by-roads instead of the main roads. The drive against illegally parked vehicles will continue,” said assistant commissioner of police Binod Das.