BANGALORE: The controversial "pay and park" scheme is most likely to be reintroduced on select roads from April.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Commissioner K. Jothiramalingam on Friday said the system would be reintroduced in a "modified" manner on select roads identified by the traffic police.

He told presspersons after the BMP budget for 2006-2007 was presented that the State Government had rejected the BMP"s Council's proposal to scrap the scheme.

"We have also received objections from the city police. We are waiting for the list of roads to be identified by the traffic police where the scheme can be reintroduced," he said.

Though the BMP earned over Rs. 4 crores through the "pay and park" scheme before it was scrapped by the former Mayor R. Narayanaswamy last year, the budget estimates for 2006-2007 show a meagre revenue of Rs. 30 lakhs through this scheme this year. "This is because we are yet to finalise the list of roads where the scheme will be reintroduced," the commissioner said.

While Mayor Mumtaz Begum said the scheme would be brought back if the Government wanted it, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party members said they would ensure that the scheme was not reintroduced.

"Our party is responsible for scrapping of the scheme. Reintroduction of the system will not be in the interests of citizens. We will convince the Government to allow us to continue free parking in the city. We are sure we will be successful because our party is part of the Government now," BJP leader A.H. Basavaraju said.

The budget proposes to ban all hoardings in the city after the period of their licence ends. Instead, the BMP will put up electronic display boards of standard size at strategic locations. The assessment of charges will be based on the number of display hours and not on the size.

The BMP, which had recently amended its advertising bylaws, had planned to convert some roads as "hoarding-free zones."

If implemented, the ban of hoardings will not only free the city of visual pollution but also put an end to alleged irregularities in the advertising department of the BMP.

Aiming at decentralisation, the BMP budget proposes to relocate the existing deputy commissioners in charge of markets, revenue and welfare to the three zones as special deputy commissioners, who will monitor revenue collection and matters relating to markets and welfare at zonal level.

To match the State Government's allocation of Rs. 730 crores for works to be taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the BMP has set aside Rs. 435 crores as its contribution.

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