The Hindu 04.05.2010
Uncertainty over GHMC policy on parking lots
Special Correspondent
| ‘Collection of parking fee by malls and commercial complexes is illegal’ |
MCH with seven circles earned Rs.1.2 crore from auction of parking lots
GHMC with 135 parking lots earned 43 lakh for 1-yr. contract that came to an end in Feb.2010
HYDERABAD: While big cats lick their lips awaiting a sumptuous meal in the form of plenty of money whatever method is chosen, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has to quickly make a decision on its parking policy.
Call for open auctions for all the identified 162 parking lots – 30 more removed on traffic police request, in the twin cities or give some to the women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and the rest for auction? Or, take the same risk as last year and give most lots to SHGs despite the chance of most of them unable to live up to the revenue potential and when they face serious charges of unauthorised change of hands.
It’s a Catch 22 situation and Commissioner Sameer Sharma and his senior colleagues are grappling with it. Parking could earn up to Rs. 2 crore in fees, if only to ensure proper regulation.
Twist
However, considering the capital’s growth and exponential rise in the number of vehicles, GHMC has “earned” little more than Rs. 43 lakh for 135 parking lots for the one year contract period that came to an end in Feb.2010!
A twist to this racket is outgo of almost a same amount for salaries payment to private security staff manning the lots!
Consider this. When GHMC was MCH with seven circles only the revenue from this source was Rs.1.2 crore from an auction!
With 18 circles now, parking revenue has been reducing correspondingly for the past few years ever since the public auction was dispensed with on complaints of harassment by contractors’ staff.
In between, three prime parking slots including Basheerbagh and M.G. Road were given away to a Bangalore-based private party on a nomination basis with a ridiculous revenue sharing ratio of the civic body getting just 10 p.c. revenue while the agency keeps 90 p.c!
Officials in a fix
The firm also came up with a figure of Rs. 4.5 crore revenue from all the parking lots. Following requests from the women groups of high pricing, a team of senior officials later rationalised the rate and fixed approximately Rs. 30,000 for each lot.
Even this amount was not realised by some groups leaving officials in a fix.
Amidst all this, yet another festering issue of acting against arbitrary collection of parking fee by commercial complexes and malls remains in a frozen state though senior officials agree it is illegal.
