‘Issues over use of Point of Sale machines for collecting parking fee to be solved soon’

kolkata: Despite having taken several measures to curb illegal parking, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) continues to be in the limelight for allegedly failing to tackle the situation with several parking lot attendants refusing to use the point of sale (PoS) machines and allegedly charging random fees from vehicle owners in cash.

The bone of contention among the vehicle owners is parking lot attendants refusing to collect parking fees using a point-of-sale machine which requires them to issue a receipt after collection of the fees. However, vehicle owners allege that in a bid to extort them, the parking lot attendants are refusing to use the PoS and are charging fees higher than what they should be as per the rate chart set by the KMC.

Several parking lot attendants are however of the opinion that the PoS machines supplied to them are either non-functional or, as some have claimed, they still do not have one.

The second set of attendants said that they have been collecting parking fees without the use of the PoS for years and there is no compulsion that they need to use one. When told that KMC has made the use of these machines mandatory, the reply was they have not received any such order from the civic body. An attendant also said that he was using the PoS for some time but with the alleged frequent malfunctioning of the device he found the manual method easier to stick with. Another set of attendants alleged that they need to pay a hefty amount to the traffic police and which is why they charge extra.

Alongside these, in several areas such as in Southern Avenue or Central Kolkata, cars were seen parked in two adjacent rows, leading to the narrowing of the road. In several places, motorbikes were seen parked on the footpath, forcing pedestrians onto the road, and leaving them vulnerable to accidents. Some of the drivers even admitted that it is against the rule to park adjacent to another vehicle instead of parking in front or behind it to ensure there is one row of cars.KMC officials are of the opinion that the complication concerning the use of PoS will be soon solved with new e-tenders being floated for distribution of the parking lots to agencies. Only the agencies that use PoS can participate in the e-tenders, it was pointed out.

Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal said that the police are working closely with the KMC to bring about a solution to

this problem.