The delay in issuing contracts for maintaining two-wheeler parking lots at some railway stations in the city is causing inconvenience to commuters.
Bicycles and even motorcycles have been stolen from the Kodambakkam and Chetpet railway stations recently.
“A few boys had parked their cycles and took a train to Marina Beach last week, but on their return, their cycles were stolen,” said traders at Kodambakkam railway station.
They said policemen at Kodambakkam refused to take complaints, asking owners why they had parked vehicles in an “unauthorised lot”. The parking lot’s contract came to an end two weeks ago and a poster from Southern Railway warns people that they were parking their two-wheelers at their own risk. The problem is not restricted to Kodambakkam but many other railway stations in the city too .
“My motorcycle is fairly new and expensive too. I am not confident about leaving it behind in an unattended lot so I have to go all the way to Nungambakkam,” said M. Sundaresan, who usually leaves it at Kodambakkam, but now has been forced to use one of the several private parking sheds in Nungambakkam where the problem is different.
There has been a proposal to convert a space belonging to the State government, but officials said it was not enough for creating a parking lot to accommodate a few hundred motorcycles.
In the absence of a contractor to look after the parking lots, unauthorised men harass vehicle owners. “It is common in Chintadripet MRTS station that at times we are also at the receiving end from railway policemen,” a car owner said.
Tenders floated
Southern Railway officials said that they had floated tenders calling for contractors and it would be awarded by the second week of November including Kodambakkam and three locations in Chetpet.
Issuing parking lot contracts for a three-year period brings good revenue to the Southern Railway.
For instance, the contract for a parking lot in Kodambakkam station brings Rs. 60 lakh, while in Basin Bridge, it is over Rs. 1 crore, officials said.
