BHOPAL: There were no boards or any signs to identify ‘free parking’ in Bhopal, which came into effect in the state capital on Sunday. That said, intimidation, grabbing of public roads and pedestrian spaces by premium parking operators, continued as usual.
Paid parking has been scrapped in Bhopal with exceptions by Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC). The rationale to scrap paid parking given by the BMC is too many complaints against parking operators. If that was followed the tee, premium parking at New Market and adjoining multilevel parking, would be shut and done within minutes. When contacted, BMC officials failed to give any logical reply.
Umpteen violations of guidelines, traffic rules and misbehavior by premium parking in New Market operated a private agency, can only be overlooked if BMC officials wore blindfold. Two lanes of the three-lane BRTS corridor has been converted as parking space by the operator, ‘Akhtar enterprises’. During the first lockdown, BMC removed a bus stop from New Market area. Not to anyone’s surprise, the space has been converted into an office for the premium parking operator. The loss of Rs 25 lakh plus of tax payer’s money by removing the bus stop, unaccounted.
Light green tee shirts, with bold letters ‘premium car parking’ does the task of intimidating pretty well. Covid SOPs are openly violated by the staff. All they wait for, is to snatch every inch of the road and demand a parking fee. A jump on a vehicle which has paid a fee and in motion, is not seldom. It is a common practice.
Vehicle is parked in a designated parking space or not, the agency is unhindered. Thanks to BMC and traffic police who look the other way. A snap short during and shell out Rs 30. The maximum billing can be Rs 110 for a day. Even without a blindfold on, BMC can track the encroachment of publue space. Going by the contract, CCTV has to be in record till the final audit of payments is settled.
!(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {
window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {};
const { TimesApps } = window;
TimesApps.loadFBEvents = function() {
(function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {
if (f.fbq) return;
n = f.fbq = function() {
n.callMethod ? n.callMethod(…arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments);
};
if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;
n.push = n;
n.loaded = !0;
n.version = ‘2.0’;
n.queue = [];
t = b.createElement(e);
t.async = !0;
t.src = v;
s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s);
})(f, b, e, v, n, t, s);
fbq(‘init’, ‘593671331875494’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
};
})(
window,
document,
‘script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’,
);if(typeof window !== ‘undefined’) {
window.TimesApps = window.TimesApps || {};
const { TimesApps } = window;
TimesApps.loadScriptsOnceAdsReady = () => {
var scripts = [‘https://static.clmbtech.com/ad/commons/js/2658/toi/colombia_v2.js’,
‘https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=AW-877820074’,
‘https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js’,
‘https://tvid.in/sdk/loader.js’,
‘https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/video_comscore_api/version-3.cms’,
‘https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/grxpushnotification_js/minify-1,version-1.cms’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#version=v10.0&xfbml=true’,
‘https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/locateservice_js/minify-1,version-12.cms’
];
scripts.forEach(function(url) {
let script = document.createElement(‘script’);
script.type=”text/javascript”;
if(!false && !false && url.indexOf(‘colombia_v2’)!== -1){
script.src = url;
} else if (!false && !false && url.indexOf(‘sdkloader’)!== -1) {
script.src = url;
} else if (url.indexOf(‘colombia_v2’)== -1 && url.indexOf(‘sdkloader’)== -1){
script.src = url;
}
script.async = true;
document.body.appendChild(script);
});
}
}
.
