The tussle between the Public Works Department (PWD) on one side and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and the City police on the other over the arterial roads of the city continues with Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran reiterating that paid parking system is illegal.
The Minister told the Assembly on Thursday that the Corporation had been levying fee from motorists for parking on the MG Road without the permission of the PWD.
The decision to impose parking fees on roads in the Corporation limits had been taken by a three-member committee headed by the District Collector in November 2015.
Mr. Sudhakaran said the government had taken note of the practice of collecting parking fee using traffic wardens, deployed by the traffic advisory committee, from Plamood to Kesavadasapuram along the NH66.
Paid parking is also in force from LMS to Attakulangara (MG Road) and RMS-Thampanoor (Overbridge road) which came under the authority of the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB).
He said the practice flouted rules. “Some IAS officers are unaware of the law. The advisory committee had no right to collect parking fees from motorists,” he said.
Steps taken
Elaborating the steps adopted to rein in the practice, Mr. Sudhakaran said the PWD Executive Engineer (NH wing) wrote to the Corporation secretary on May 22 to highlight the violations. Besides, the KRFB has discontinued the ‘pay-and-park’ system launched by the traffic advisory committee on the LMS-Attakulangara and RMS-Thampanoor roads.
