MC offers market parking lot; traders seek time to decide

Ludhiana: The civic body has told traders in Feroze Gandhi Market that they would offer them the market’s parking lot if they were not satisfied with contractors hired by the MC, but traders have sought some time to decide whether they were ready to take over the parking lot or not. However, the traders have suggested a tripartite agreement between the Feroze Gandhi Market Association, MC, and police on the matter, and also demanded hourly parking rates at the lot.
The traders claimed that in the market, the shops-cum-offices (SCOs) were auctioned with five parking lots, so these parking lots belonged to Feroze Gandhi Market and not MC, but even then, every year the civic body hired a contractor to manage the parking lots in the market. They claimed MC should think about parking congestion and public convenience, rather than money. The traders also met mayor Balkar Sandhu over the issue, and requested him to implement the high court orders issued on November 20 last year. They have also requested for cancelling the parking lot’s auction, until they implemented the HC’s orders. They requested the mayor to implement hourly parking through a mobile application, as it would decongest the parking lots, and generate white money, as tickets issued through the mobile app will get logged on a central computer, thus eliminating the generation of black money.
Feroze Gandhi Market Association president PS Gill claimed they had also suggested the use of parking space in front of one dhaba in the market as additional parking space. He said they had demanded the marking of the market’s main road – one side for car parking, and one side for scooter parking — towing of vehicles parked outside the lines, repair of parking lots, construction of footpaths and their demarcation with grills.
Association chairman Colonel (retd) Harjap Singh said keeping in view the rush in market, they had demanded effective implementation of one-way traffic in the market, along with basic firefighting measures on the ground without any further delay, including five fire hydrants in each parking lot. He said they would talk to all members in the association to reach a conclusion whether they would be able to handle the parking lot or not.
Meanwhile, zonal commissioner Neeraj Jain said, “We have told the market association that if they want to handle the parking lot, they can fill in a tender and pay the amount to MC.” He said they had postponed the e-auction of parking lots to March 2, hoping that by then, things would sort out.” He said regarding other demands, they had already floated tenders for repair and other related works.