Contractors lease out car parks to third parties, may be booked

Gurgaon: Some private contractors who were leased out parking sites in the city allegedly sub-leased part of the spaces to third parties and used the remaining sections to keep collecting charges from commuters despite their contracts being terminated by the HSVP.
When asked, officials of the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) said they will take action against the errant contractors.
Last year, HSVP had leased out 12 parking sites in commercial and institutional areas of Gurgaon to private contractors. Of these, four sites are in Sector 29, another four in Sector 32, two in Sector 44, and one each in sectors 28 and 54.
HSVP officials had said that the agency terminated the contracts for all 12 sites on March 24 and reclaimed the land.
But a visit on Thursday showed that wasn’t the case. For instance, at a parking site opposite Apparel House in Sector 44, a contractor appeared to have sub-leased part of the space to another company that had constructed maintenance and marking office for electric vehicles. Another portion of the land was still being used for parking.
When aske, the contractor for the Sector 44 site told TOI the contract was suspended over payment of dues but he had cleared the charges owed to HSVP. The contractor did not respond to questions on sub-leasing the space to a third-party.
“We have cleared our dues. None of us were collecting parking fees illegally,” said the contractor cited above.
On Thursday, estate officer-2 of HSVP (Gurgaon), Sanjeev Singhla, who took charge two days back, said that he has directed the officials to put an end to any illegal activities. He added that FIRs will be registered against the contractors.