Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
With no designated parking spaces in the city, vehicle owners have been facing severe inconvenience. The municipal corporation has now begun implementing a parking policy and has decided to introduce parking on a trial basis outside the district collectorate. To roll out the parking policy across the city, the work has been assigned to a company from Gujarat.
At present, there are no authorised parking spaces in the city. When citizens park two-wheelers or four-wheelers along the roadside, former servicemen deployed by the municipal corporation tow away the vehicles. To retrieve their vehicles, owners have to go to Garware Stadium or Baba Petrol Pump Chowk and pay a fine of Rs 500 for two-wheelers and Rs 2,000 for four-wheelers. For several years, citizens have been demanding that dedicated parking spaces be identified.
With the support of the Smart City project, the municipal corporation has developed an app called CSN Smart Park, through which parking facilities will be made available to citizens. Advance booking of parking spaces will also be possible through the app. Parking charges have been fixed at Rs 10 per hour for two-wheelers, Rs 15 for three-wheelers and Rs 20 for four-wheelers. The project has been awarded to SMP Mobitech Pvt Ltd, a Gujarat-based company.
Selection of sites on a trial basis
Parking markings have been created on both sides of the road from Chandane Chowk to the Panchayat Samiti office outside the district collectorate. After conducting surveys, the contractor company will submit proposals to the municipal corporation identifying other locations where parking facilities can be provided.
A parking committee has also been formed, comprising the municipal commissioner, police commissioner, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), head of the municipal encroachment removal department, legal adviser and the Smart City coordinator, among others.
Photo caption:
Parking spaces marked outside the district collectorate under the trial initiative.