Parking contractors to lose security deposits over dues

Noida: With commercial activity being allowed once again, the cash-strapped Noida Authority has shifted its focus back on surface parking in the city.
The Authority last year roped in multiple agencies to run the 90 surface parking lots across five clusters of the city, aiming to churn out close to Rs 40 crore in two years.
However, the fate of the scheme now hangs in balance, with almost all the parking contractors seeking exemption from paying up their fees for April and May, citing Covid-19.
On Thursday, the Authority started the process of forfeiting their security deposits.
Authority officials said the tenders for the majority of the surface parking lots across the five clusters were awarded on December 1, 2020. “The period of the contracts is two years and they will expire on November 30, 2022. The contract for cluster II, however, expired in January this year and the selection of a new parking agency is underway,” said AS Sharma, senior manager of the Noida’s traffic cell.
As not a single parking contractor paid up their dues for April and May, the chief executive officer of the Authority on Wednesday asked the traffic cell to initiate action against the defaulters.
And officials said that within a week, Rs 2.66 crore will be recovered from the defaulters.
Krishna Gopal Vashisht, who runs the surface parking lots in sectors 63, 64 and 65, said, “The Union and the state governments are offering relaxations to businessmen and entrepreneurs owing to the hardships they have faced during the pandemic. As corporates are promoting work-from-home culture, our business is already down. How are we expected to deposit the fees for the curfew period.”
The contractors charge Rs 10 from two-wheelers and Rs 20 from four-wheelers for the first two hours.
Meanwhile, residents have appealed to the Authority to share the status of the approved parking lots on its website. “Many a time, contractors encroach the nearby streets and localities and fleece daily commuters. If commuters are also aware about the designated parking lots, it will reduce conflicts between the contractors and the residents,” said Brajesh Sharma, a resident of Sector 78.
Earlier, in December, the Authority had limited the surface parking outside Sector 18 market. Surface parking was allowed in a lined manner and that too at Rs 50 per hour, officials said. The Authority’s previous moves to remove vehicles from the Sector 18 street met with protests by shopkeepers.
The main reason behind making the market vehicle-free was to encourage people to use the multi-level parking lot at the sector. The multi-level parking lot, which can host 2,800 cars, has barely been able to fill up even 50% of its slots over the past several months and even after unlock. The Sector 18 facility resumed on October 2 last year.