Eyes set on profit, Sec 34, 35 parking contractors blind to violations

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Chandigarh, August 28

While the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) is receiving complaints about inconvenience faced by people at the parking lots across the city, the focus of contractors and their staff is only on generating revenue by issuing entry slips and not on providing assistance to those availing themselves of the facility.

A visit to the parking lots in Sectors 34 and 35 reveals a number of violations by the contractors. 

In different parking lots of Sector 34, vehicles were parked in haphazard manner and no staff was deployed within 50 metres inside parking lots to help people. Significantly, manual parking slips were being issued to people using the facility. As per rules, the facility should have e-ticketing machines. 

In the parking lot of Sector 34 private coaching centre block, vehicles were parked even on turns making it difficult for motorists to negotiate these. There was no space for movement of emergency vehicles like Fire Brigade vehicles or ambulance. 

In the Sector 35-B parking lot, only staff present at the entrance was doing his job efficiently while the staff deployed at the exit point was not checking vehicles regularly. The errant staff was apparently not bothered about the safety of vehicles parked in the facility. 

Vehicles were parked haphazardly at the Sector 35-C parking lot. The civic body has already cancelled the licence of the contractor of this parking lot as he violated the norms by overcharging.