Nabanna has informed the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) that it will not allow any hike in parking fees in the city, mayor Firhad Hakim has told The Telegraph.
The civic body sent a comparison of parking rates in some Indian cities to the state secretariat in May, asking the secretariat to fix the parking rates for Calcutta.
Hakim said on Sunday that Nabanna has said that existing rates should continue.
The CMC floated an e-tender to allocate rights for managing parking bays.
Civic officials said that they were waiting for a decision on parking rates before the bids are opened later this month.
"We will continue with the existing rates of parking," Hakim said on Sunday.
The existing parking rates during the day — 7am to 10pm — are Rs 10 an hour for cars and Rs 5 an hour for two-wheelers respectively. Night parking — 10 pm to 7 am — is Rs 30 an hour for cars and Rs 10 an hour for two-wheelers.
The CMC had raised parking fees in Calcutta in April, but it was forced to roll back the hike within seven days of the revision.
The hiked rates were rolled back on April 7 evening after Trinamul Congress spokesperson and state general secretary Kunal Ghosh told a news conference that chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the party did not approve of the increase.
Ghosh said the chief minister was unaware of the rise in parking rates before it was implemented.
The rolled-back rates for cars, which were in effect between April 1 and April 7, were Rs 20 an hour for the first two hours, Rs 40 an hour from the third to the fifth hour, and Rs 100 an hour for every hour beyond that.
The CMC has set a target to raise Rs 100 crore from parking fees in its budget estimate for 2023-24.
Hakim has repeatedly emphasised over the months that the civic body lacked adequate funds and officials said parking was one of the areas where the CMC could raise funds on its own and use them for development work.
While doing a comparative study of parking rates, CMC officials found that cities like Mumbai and Bangalore have three zones and the parking rates vary from one zone to another.
Delhi has a flat rate across the city, like in Calcutta.
Though the official parking rate in Calcutta for cars is Rs 10 an hour, parking attendants charge much more than the stipulated rates.
