The Hindu : No progress on parking fee proposal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

No progress on parking fee proposal

By M. Raghuram

MANGALORE, FEB. 3. A year has passed since the city corporation proposed the introduction of parking fee in 20 places in the city. But of late, the civic body appears to have given up the plan. Even the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is in the opposition in the corporation council, does not seem to be interested in raking it up.

The council meeting on Saturday was expected to discuss the issue. This was because the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation proposal, estimated at Rs. 302 crore, included development of parking lots. But the proposal was not discussed, with the members levelling charges against one another on personal issues. The council meetings in the past year have sidelined the issue.

It is said that the corporation does not have powers to ensure disciplined parking as is done by the civic bodies of Bangalore, Mysore, and Gulbarga. The Mayor, K. Diwakar, says Mangalore is an unplanned city, but enough parking space is available, and the people, who have a good civic sense, can help bring some order to parking. The corporation and the traffic police have not applied their mind to it, he adds.

According to Mr. Diwakar, the parking problem seems to be getting out of hand as the number of vehicles is increasing fast. The city has 1.65 lakh vehicles. Hawkers and petty shops function on the parking lots. Moreover, bus stands within a 10-km. radius of central Mangalore are situated near the parking lots or at the intersections. Separate parking lots are not allotted for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers. This makes it difficult to impose parking fee, he says.

This is why the council resolved to refer the proposal to its Finance and Appeals Committee to examine its viability. The corporation had identified 20 parking lots and proposed to charge Rs. 2 for four-wheelers and Re. 1 for two-wheelers. There was opposition to the proposal initially from the councillors and the motorists.

The parking lots in front of the Government College, Hampankatta, Falnir Road, and Balmatta are unregulated. Haphazard parking lands motorists in trouble. The scene is no better in the 17 other parking lots.

People complain that autorickshaws are parked at road intersections, obstructing the view of motorists.

The three-wheelers block the way to shops, institutions, and business establishments. The police and the civic authorities are ineffective in dealing with autorickshaw drivers owing to the fear that they will go on strike.

This applies to the city and moffusil buses also, as they are allowed to park anywhere.

Some motorists who are willing to pay the parking fee say personnel should deployed at the parking lots to help them. They feel that private parking lots have to be provided within multi-storeyed buildings.

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