‘Stern action will be taken against those charging exorbitant parking fees’

Stern action will be taken against those collecting parking fees if they charge more than the stipulated rate from car owners, Mayor Sovan Chatterjee said on Thursday.

He said that for quite some time the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) had been receiving complaints from people that some parking fee collectors were charging more money from them.

During festive months, some of them had charged Rs 40 for one hour against the stipulated rate of Rs 10 per hour.

Chatterjee said that KMC would conduct inquiry against the firms engaged to collect parking fees and 

if they were found guilty, stern action would be taken.

Some owners of vehicles alleged that during the festive season, some parking fee collectors had been charging not only more money but they were also not allowing SUVs and MUVs to park because of their bigger sizes.

“We had drawn the attention of the Mayor and he had assured us of looking into the matter,” said a car owner.

The KMC is preparing a parking policy incorporating the views of the city police. Senior police officers said parking had become a major cause of concern in many areas. They said traffic jams in areas where good schools are situated have become quite frequent. They said during school days that the entire stretch of Rawdon Street up to Park Street pose a serious threat to office goers as the vehicles belong to the students of a school are parked till late in the afternoon.

Also, parking along Park Street becomes a problem because of a school and a college. They felt that a well planned parking policy would help improve traffic movement in the city. Similarly, the entire Strand Road has been used to park vehicles of lawyers. Moreover, most of the roads and lanes in South Kolkata are used as parking lot.