In the wake of mounting protests, the railway on Wednesday conducted an inspection at Ernakulam South Railway Station to probe the complaints about exorbitant parking fee collected here.
According to officials, the inspection, conducted by Assistant General Manager K. Vijayakumaran, revealed anomalies in charging the fee for vehicles. He ordered strict action, including hefty penalty, once the court order on the matter comes out. The inspection comes in the wake of a rise in complaints over the past one week.
Earlier, the Anti-Corruption People’s Movement had intensified its protest against the illegal parking fee at the South Railway Station and also staged a sit-in at the railway station.
According to them, the actual rate for parking a two-wheeler for two hours is Rs.5 and for parking three and four-wheelers the fee is Rs.10. However, the contractors are collecting the parking fees well in advance and are allegedly levying twice the charged amount.
As per the terms of contract, the contractors are supposed to provide an electronically-generated slip indicating the time of parking, date and registration numbers of the parked vehicles.
Last week, the Southern Railways informed the Kerala High Court that the contractor had violated the conditions in the agreement by overcharging and refusing to issue computer-generated slip for the parking fee.
The department also pointed out that an inquiry had revealed that all the complaints against the excess collection of parking fees at Ernakulam Junction station proved true and recommended that the contractor be blacklisted.
