The Times of India - Lucknow 31.07.2009
The parking ticket may get costlier
LUCKNOW: Planning to drive your dream car in the heart of the city? Hold on. For, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) is planning to put brakes into your dream drive by increasing the parking cost. And that too on an hourly basis.
At present, the parking rates -- Rs 10 for a four-wheeler and Rs 5 for a two-wheeler -- are charged for the first four hours. The rates are increased on an hourly basis after that. But now, plans are afoot to do away with the arrangement, instead imposing parking charges on an hourly basis straightaway.
What's more, if the corporation had its way, the number of parking lots in the city would be reduced considerably, thereby, forcing an average driver to park one's vehicle at only a selective parking lot and walk all the way to the market.
The said aspects are part of the proposal prepared by the LMC and sent to the department of urban development. Municipal commissioner, Shailesh Kumar Singh confirmed that the proposal has been drafted and sent to the urban development. "The idea is to discourage use of private vehicles in the city. After all there is a certain limit to the carrying capacity,'' he said.
Singh said that the proposal is in line with the recommendations of the supreme court appointed committee headed by Bhure Lal, a former IAS officer. The committee had recently pulled up the department of the urban development for not having proper roads and the requisite public transport, even as the city continues to swell with large number of private transport.
"We have suggested that the parking rates be increased on an hourly basis. By how much, that would be decided by the department which would look into the local aspects and paying capacity of people in the city,'' the municipal commissioner told TOI.
LMC sources said that the rates might be increased many times as the proposal does away with the haphazardly maintained parking lots. "That would include cancellation of all parking lots maintained on the side of the roads,'' a senior official associated with the project said. In a way, almost all the parking lots in Hazratganj would stand cancelled, once the multi-level parking lot comes into picture.
The upmarket area has as many as half-a-dozen parking lots which would thus be obsolete and the area would be declared a `no-parking zone'. In all LMC has close to 70 parking lots, virtually all of them on roadsides. Singh said that the multi-level parking lot in Hazratganj would finally be handed over to them for maintenance.
At present, the parking rates -- Rs 10 for a four-wheeler and Rs 5 for a two-wheeler -- are charged for the first four hours. The rates are increased on an hourly basis after that. But now, plans are afoot to do away with the arrangement, instead imposing parking charges on an hourly basis straightaway.
What's more, if the corporation had its way, the number of parking lots in the city would be reduced considerably, thereby, forcing an average driver to park one's vehicle at only a selective parking lot and walk all the way to the market.
The said aspects are part of the proposal prepared by the LMC and sent to the department of urban development. Municipal commissioner, Shailesh Kumar Singh confirmed that the proposal has been drafted and sent to the urban development. "The idea is to discourage use of private vehicles in the city. After all there is a certain limit to the carrying capacity,'' he said.
Singh said that the proposal is in line with the recommendations of the supreme court appointed committee headed by Bhure Lal, a former IAS officer. The committee had recently pulled up the department of the urban development for not having proper roads and the requisite public transport, even as the city continues to swell with large number of private transport.
"We have suggested that the parking rates be increased on an hourly basis. By how much, that would be decided by the department which would look into the local aspects and paying capacity of people in the city,'' the municipal commissioner told TOI.
LMC sources said that the rates might be increased many times as the proposal does away with the haphazardly maintained parking lots. "That would include cancellation of all parking lots maintained on the side of the roads,'' a senior official associated with the project said. In a way, almost all the parking lots in Hazratganj would stand cancelled, once the multi-level parking lot comes into picture.
The upmarket area has as many as half-a-dozen parking lots which would thus be obsolete and the area would be declared a `no-parking zone'. In all LMC has close to 70 parking lots, virtually all of them on roadsides. Singh said that the multi-level parking lot in Hazratganj would finally be handed over to them for maintenance.