Parking area at Chepauk MRTS wears a bleak look

For months now, the facility does not have a parking contractor.

This stretch outside Chepauk MRTS was once lined with four-wheelers. Photo: R. Ragu

Commuters have begun to think twice before parking their vehicles at the Chepauk MRTS. For some months now, the station is without a parking contractor. And, there have been reports of damage to vehicles.

“We have received complaints of damage caused to vehicles parked at the station,” said a railway staff at the station.

“Two weeks ago, a commuter had parked his four-wheeler at the station only to find the windshield broken when he returned in the evening,” says K. Rafiq, a physically-challenged vendor at the station.

The parking contractor was appointed after a long gap but the services of his agency were terminated as he failed to meet certain requirements, say sources.

“The contractor operated for only a month. Now, for the last four to five months, no new agency has been appointed,” says Rafiq. Unlike at the other stations, where the parking sections are chock-a-block with vehicles, the Chepauk parking area wears a bleak look. Chepauk station can accommodate 200 two- and four-wheelers, but now the number of vehicles can be counted on the fingers of one’s hands.

The bleak look is also partly due to tight policing brought about by the IPL matches. Some commuters say the police personnel don’t allow them to park their vehicles.

Many regulars now park their vehicles at the Chintadripet or Thiruvallikeni station.

A senior official from the Southern Railway said the tender would be issued on April 27. It would however take a few months for an agency to be placed in charge of the parking lot.