MC to hire contractors for 11 parking sites

LUDHIANA: Without adoption of a parking policy notified by the Local Bodies department, civic authorities have floated tenders to hire contractors for 11 parking sites in the city. The parking policy is supposed to be implemented by August 31, but so far, civic officials have neither developed any parking zones, nor has it been decided whether they will charge money for parking inside residential areas. Since mayor Balkar Sandhu did not call a general house meeting, the policy could not be put up in the house for adoption.
However, now the mayor claimed this delay was causing financial losses for the civic body, and therefore, they have floated tenders for hiring new contractors to maintain parking lots. So, the previous tenders have been extended for a month until the time the new tenders take their place. The Local Bodies department had notified the parking policy on April 13. In this policy, it was mentioned that MC would divide the city into multiple parking zones or parking management areas. Road signages would be erected to clearly communicate the parking rules to the public.

MC was also asked to designate an inspector-level officer to issue challans for unauthorized parkings. Under the new policy, instead of issuing manual challans, officials will have to videograph illegally parked vehicles, and challans would be sent to the residential addresses of the defaulters. A mobile application too would be developed through which the public can send information regarding illegally parked vehicles to the officers concerned. But so far, no such steps have been taken under the new policy.

Tenders have been floated for parking sites in Feroze Gandhi Market, Mata Rani Chowk, Sarabha Nagar main market, Sarabha Nagar I Block market, Model Town Extension market, Orient Cinema opposite police station, BRS Nagar, Jagraon Bridge to Sherpur Chowk, Mall Road, Bhadhaur House opposite AC market, Old GT Road (under elevated road), and under Gill Chowk flyover.

Mayor Balkar Sandhu said tenders had been floated according to the previous policy, because the house is yet to adopt the new parking policy. He added that as the civic body was in a deep financial crisis, they required to auction the parking lots. On the other hand, Local Bodies minister Navjot Sidhu said: “I will look into the matter, and MC will have to ensure implementation of the new parking policy at any cost.”

Notably, a few months ago too, civic officials had floated tenders for a parking lot in Model Town Extension without adopting a new parking policy. When the matter came to the the knowledge of Local Bodies minister Navjot Sidhu, he had applied brakes on their scheme.