MANGALORE: There seems to be no end to parking woes of citizens in the city. Vehicle users are left with no option but to shed extra bucks to park their vehicles at parking lots allocated by the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) though there are different slabs for different hours of parking.
There is no proper monitoring of the system by the authorities concerned and parking attendants are making the hay while the sun shines. Many are forced to pay excess amount even if they park their vehicles for a short duration. Vehicle users accuse the city corporation of turning a blind eye towards the issue.
People, who want to go for short shopping of 10 or 15 minutes, also are forced to pay parking fee for six hours though there are separate slabs for below two hours and above two hours.
There are six prominent parking lots in the city near Hampankatta, Nehru Maidan, Lalbagh, Service Bus Stand, Central Market and Balmatta-Hampankatta Road. As per the MCC’s agreement, the contractors are supposed to charge Rs 5 for two hours for cars. For above two hours and up to six hours, they can charge Rs 10. However, contractors charge Rs 10 for all cars even if they park for a few minutes.
Nicholas Lewis, a businessman in the city, told TOI that a foolproof solution needs to be adopted by the MCC to address the issue.
“I park cars at many places in the city for various requirements like shopping, to withdraw money from ATMs or to go to restaurants. Even if I park my car for a few minutes, parking attendants in most of the parking lots charge Rs 10. They give us slips of Rs 10 instead of Rs 5 without asking us about the duration,” Nicholas said and urged the corporation to look into the issue forthwith.
“I have brought the issue to the notice of the authorities concerned, but nothing has been done. Lakhs of rupees are collected by misleading people at those parking lots,” he alleged.
Ravi Kumar, a resident of Kadri, said that the issue goes unnoticed due to lack of response from citizens.
“On holidays, I spend at least Rs 50 to Rs 60 just to park my car in the city. They do not issue coupons of Rs 5 even if we ask them,” he added.
