Stretch exempted from pay-and-park scheme

Thiruvananthapuram: Corporation has stopped a pay-and-park scheme along Palayam-Secretariat stretch following a meeting between mayor V K Prasanth and PWD minister G Sudhakaran.
The minister had questioned the legality of collecting a parking fee on roads owned by PWD. Corporation officials said that three major points between Palayam and Secretariat have been exempted from the scheme in city.
“I had a discussion with the minister and he pointed out that pay-and-park scheme can be discontinued in strategic places, especially near the Secretariat. We agreed on this and the scheme will continue in other places,” said the mayor.
Meanwhile, BJP sought a special council on the pay-and-park scheme. LDF has decided to hold a general council with pay-and-park as one item on the agenda. BJP councillor V G Girikumar said that there was no legal ground for corporation to continue the scheme and that it can start collecting fees once construction of the multi-level car parking is over.
In 2018, BJP had brought up the matter in the council. Girikumar had presented an adjournment motion demanding a discussion on paid parking in city roads then.
Though BJP pointed out that the system, which was approved by the administrative committee, was never approved by the elected corporation council, LDF councillors said the decision of the administrative committee to introduce pay-and-park scheme was ratified by the council meeting in January 2016.
BJP is now eyeing UDF’s support in the wake of recent events to get a favourable decision. The paid parking system on MG road was introduced by the corporation’s administrative committee headed by the then district collector Biju Prabhakar and city police in November 2015. The traffic advisory committee had extended this scheme on major stretches and bylanes over the past four years. More traffic wardens were also deployed which ensured that long hours of unauthorized parking could be effectively prevented.
Revenue officials reported that corporation now has a reserve of over Rs 30 lakh in three years even after meeting the remuneration of over 100 traffic wardens who are deployed at various bylanes and main roads from Kesavadasapuram to Killipalam. The civic body and traffic police now implement paid parking on roads under two zones; North and South which include Kesavadasapuram-Ganapathy temple road and Attakulangara-Killipalam road.