Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Cheats take motorists for a ride

By Afshan Yasmeen

BANGALORE July 15. To prevent unauthorised people from collecting parking fee, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) introduced the white parking fee receipts bearing its official seal on July 7. But cheats continue to take motorists for a ride by issuing the yellow receipts, which are no longer valid, and taking money from them.

On Tuesday, a few boys were found issuing the yellow receipts on a parking lot on Infantry Road. Though the BMP authorities have urged people not to accept receipts not bearing its official seal, motorists in some places seem to be convinced that "there is a shortage of white receipts."

``We are told that the new receipts will be issued after the old ones are exhausted,'' Ravikanth, who regularly uses the parking lot on Infantry Road, said.

The BMP Deputy Commissioner (Marketing), K.R. Niranjan, however, denied any confusion over the colour of the receipts. ``We have stopped issuing the old yellow tickets and have asked our men to issue white receipts bearing the BMP seal. This may be a `stray case'. We will hold an inspection immediately and initiate action against the cheats,'' he said.

``The BMP revenue inspectors, now in charge of collecting parking fee, have employed private personnel to man the parking lots. Strict instructions will be given to the inspectors to prevent cheating of motorists,'' Mr. Niranjan said.

With the BMP taking charge of collection of parking fee from the contractors, a "negligible" revenue loss to the BMP was reported in the first week of July. Mr. Niranjan said collection fell from Rs. 90,000 to Rs. 60,000 initially, but it was normal now.

Pointing out that it would take two more months for the BMP to call tenders for issuing contracts for collection of parking fee, he said the civic body was exploring the possibility of handing over the job to service-oriented organisations such as the Sainik Welfare Society.

Under the old parking contracts that expired on June 30, the BMP was collecting parking fee on 78 roads in three categories. A sum of Rs. 3 crore was collected last year from the parking lots in the `A' category which includes those in the commercial hub of central Bangalore. The revenue from all the parking lots was Rs. 5 crore.

The BMP took over fee collecting as the contractors boycotted the tenders. The distribution of monthly parking passes is being held at the offices of the zonal deputy commissioners and at the BMP's central office.

A sum of Rs. 25 for two-wheelers and Rs. 75 for four-wheelers is charged for the monthly passes.

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