Bhubaneswar, Jan. 30: The irrationally high parking fee at the tribal fair ground in the capital has triggered resentment among the visitors.

There are six parking lots around the fair ground, which have been auctioned by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) without fixing the rates. As a result, the allottees have been charging the visitors exorbitantly.

Smruti Ranjan Jena, an artiste and designer working with a city-based university, who parked his car in the parking lot there was surprised when he was asked to pay Rs 20.

“As per the BMC rate it should be Rs 10 for a four-wheeler for three hours but these people are charging at will. The civic authorities must do something about it,” he said.

Kanhucharan Patra, a student who was visiting the mela, said: “They were charging Rs 5 day before yesterday, but rates have gone up since last evening. You come to this kind of fair to know about tribal culture and make several visits if you are really interested in the subject. But this would mean spending a lot of money as parking fees.”

The usual BMC rates are Rs 2 for two-wheelers and Rs 10 for four-wheelers in the parking lots. In the private parking areas, the rate varies from Rs 3 to 5 for two-wheelers but Rs10 for parking two-wheelers is something unheard of.

The head of BMC’s tax section, Rina Mohapatra, said:

“The corporation decided to auction the parking lots and it was given to the highest bidder. The problem is being created by some local youths. We have visited the area with our squad on three occasions. When the BMC tax squad is there, they collect the prescribed amount but hike it once the squads leave the area.”

Refuting the claim of the BMC officials, Bulu Mohanty, the manager of one of the parking lots at the fair ground, said: “The BMC officials are not being rational. This time it was decided that six parking lots would be given to the unemployed youths of Unit-I area for Rs 15,000 for the fortnight long fair. But on Friday, BMC officials increased the amount to Rs 35,000 and again on Saturday raised it to Rs 45,000. Finally it was settled at Rs 50,000.’’

“We have no problems with the auction but it has not been done properly. Someone from the Old Town area had taken this particular lease but we asked him to transfer it to us in the presence of local elders and police. As we have to give the original bidder his bidding price, we have to charge more from the visitors. As far as my lot is concerned, we are charging Rs 5 for two-wheelers and Rs10 for four-wheelers but there might be others charging even more,” he added.

Sonali Dutta, a student who came to the mela with friends, said: “The BMC authorities should fix the parking charges asking the bidders not to exceed them. Accordingly, they should have fixed the auction amount for the parking lots.’’

A senior BMC official, who did not want to be quoted, admitted that the tax wing officials of the corporation had made a mistake by not fixing the charges.

“Perhaps they were more worried about the auction amount as a whole rather than the charges for individual vehicles,” he said.

Jyotiranjan Mohapatra, the officer in-charge of the tribal fair, said though parking lot management was BMC’s job there was no denying that higher charges would act as a disincentive for the people coming to the fair.