The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) has extended the tenure of the agency that had the rights to manage parking along the road leading to the passport office, an official of the KMDA said on Tuesday evening.
But no action will be taken against the fleecing that has been happening in the name of collecting parking fees on the stretch for weeks. The KMDA, custodian of the road, will not lodge a police complaint, Firhad Hakim, chairperson of the agency, told The Telegraph.
Even on Tuesday, the overcharging continued. The Telegraph was asked to pay Rs 40 — the minimum fee, as told by a parking attendant — for parking a car along the road. When this newspaper refused, the attendant asked the driver to leave.
Later, this newspaper spoke to the drivers of other cars parked on the stretch. All of them said they had to pay at the rate of Rs 40 an hour.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the KMDA have fixed Rs 10 an hour as the parking rate for cars.
Parking attendants collect money from vehicles parked on the road leading to the passport office, behind Ruby hospital, on Tuesday.
Pradip SanyalA Ballygunge resident who was asked to pay Rs 100 last week for parking a car for less an hour on the stretch leading to the passport office said she was appalled at the KMDA’s decision to not file a police complaint against the parking mafia.
“They should have first taken action against the culprits. The KMDA allowed the parking mafia to operate without taking any action,” she said. The tenure of Prestige Fee Car Parking, which had been awarded the contract to manage parking on the road, ended last month.
This newspaper visited the road four times in the past six days. Every time the attendants demanded a parking fee that was many times more than the KMDA-approved rate.
Officials of the KMDA had said the action of the attendants were wrong on two counts — one, they did not have the right to collect any parking fee since the term of the agency to manage parking on the road ended last month; two, they were collecting the fees at a rate more than the KMDA-authorised one.
By extending the tenure of the parking agency, the KMDA will earn some revenue. The agency has to pay a fixed amount to the KMDA and can collect fee from cars and two-wheelers to recover the cost and make profit.
When asked on Tuesday whether the KMDA will lodge a police complaint to stop the overcharging, Hakim answered: “No.”
“We will extend the tenure of the agency for a short period,” he said.
An official said that since Prestige’s tenure has been extended, the KMDA will have the power to act against them if they violate the conditions set for them.
Some of the conditions are:
- The agency has to display boards mentioning the parking rates.
- The rates are Rs 10 an hour for cars and Rs 5 an hour for two-wheelers.
- The board should display the phone number of a KMDA official to whom one can complain.
