Chaos prevails as 3 parking lots in city pass into MC hands

Ludhiana: The remaining three parking sites in the city also came under the control of MC officials on Monday after private contractors left. However, the transition was chaotic at parking lots of Feroze Gandhi market, where traffic jams were witnessed in the absence of parking management.
People were not issued parking tickets but were charged nevertheless. In the multi-storey parking site near Mata Rani Chowk too manual slips were being issued. The situation at BRS Nagar parking site was similar.
Two parking lots under MC control are located in Sarabha Nagar market and Model Town Extension market. Chairman, Feroze Gandhi Market Association, Col Harjap Singh complained, “One parking site out of five was full of rainwater while there was total chaos at others. No manpower was visible in the market to manage things.” He added that the civic body should deploy employees in the market, where at least 40 to 50 people were required for proper management.
Another resident of Chander Nagar, Karan Goyal who went to multi storey parking lot said, “Employees were giving manual tickets wherever tickets should have been issued through machines. If MC does not follow instructions then how will it ensure that contractors follow these?” He added that it would be better if the civic body managed parking lots at its own level.
BJP leader Deepak Sharma reported theft of his bike which he had parked in the parking lot on Monday. Senior BJP councillor from ward number 85, Sunita Rani complained that other people also lost their bikes on Monday as vehicle lifters got a chance to strike in the absence of security. She demanded action against officials concerned for failing to deploy staff.
Meanwhile, an official claimed that they got permission to recall tenders but it would take time to complete the process. He assured that staff would be deployed early and there would be no more chaos.
The MC had conducted e-auction of nine parking sites earlier but due to some reason, the auction was stopped. The civic body took permission for e-auction again in the finance and contracts committee meeting.