<p>Like any opportunist seeing a chance to make a quick buck, police, contractors and administrative officials have scented vast opportunities to make money illegally in the city’s lack of parking space. <br /><br />The shortage of parking spaces has given birth to many ‘ad hoc parking mafias’ in the city.<br /><br />As police look the other way, self-styled parking contractors occupy parking spaces in busy areas and charge users at their will. Desperate for a parking space, the automobile owners grumble but pay up. Elsewhere, in authorised parking lots, the attendants charge much more than officially allowed. Any protest is muzzled, with the threat of refusal of parking. Such illegal activity is not possible without official connivance and local politicians’ complicity, but officials would, of course, flatly refuse any involvement, expressing innocent surprise at the existence of such criminality.<br /><br />Helpless, the citizens, willy nilly, help the parking mafia business to grow by the day. <br /><br />“We know that this is not a regular parking spot,” says Ayush Anand, a software developer parking his car at outside Safdarjung Development Area (SDA) Market, to go for lunch. “We pay to them as they give us space to park our car and save me the headache,” he says.<br /><br />Unlike Anand, there are several people who are victims of such mafia, but they neither have time nor have will to fight back. “They charged me three times more than what was written on the receipt. When I protested, they told me if you want to park your car here, you have to pay or else find another place,” said Manish Bhatnagar, an government employee, who went shopping at Sadar Bazar in Central Delhi along with his family. Bhatnagar complained about this to the beat constable present in the area who suggested that he file a complaint. Bhatnagar chose not to, as he had neither time nor patience to deal with a police case.</p>.<p>The administrative officials and market associations too accept that problems of parking mafia exist at the crowded markets in the city. “To break the stronghold of the parking mafia, the corporation has come up with a unique plan. It has issued a tender of parking slots for ex-army personnel. At least we believe that they will be more honest ,” said an MCD official requesting anonymity.</p>.<p>The parking mafias after getting contracts to run the parking slots from the various administrative bodies sub-let them to others after pocketing the profit in between. “They even increase area of the parking slot given to them to earn extra amount,” said the official adding that sometime police in connvinace with such people create an illegal parking space where there should not have been parking. While police refuted the claims, a senior police official suggests that if there are any issues, people should come forward and lodge a complaint.<br /><br />Praveen Kumar, president Sadar Bazar Traders’ Association claimed no matter what the police says, the fact is there is no market in the city where illegal parking lots do not flourish,thanks to the police-contractors nexus.</p>
<p>Like any opportunist seeing a chance to make a quick buck, police, contractors and administrative officials have scented vast opportunities to make money illegally in the city’s lack of parking space. <br /><br />The shortage of parking spaces has given birth to many ‘ad hoc parking mafias’ in the city.<br /><br />As police look the other way, self-styled parking contractors occupy parking spaces in busy areas and charge users at their will. Desperate for a parking space, the automobile owners grumble but pay up. Elsewhere, in authorised parking lots, the attendants charge much more than officially allowed. Any protest is muzzled, with the threat of refusal of parking. Such illegal activity is not possible without official connivance and local politicians’ complicity, but officials would, of course, flatly refuse any involvement, expressing innocent surprise at the existence of such criminality.<br /><br />Helpless, the citizens, willy nilly, help the parking mafia business to grow by the day. <br /><br />“We know that this is not a regular parking spot,” says Ayush Anand, a software developer parking his car at outside Safdarjung Development Area (SDA) Market, to go for lunch. “We pay to them as they give us space to park our car and save me the headache,” he says.<br /><br />Unlike Anand, there are several people who are victims of such mafia, but they neither have time nor have will to fight back. “They charged me three times more than what was written on the receipt. When I protested, they told me if you want to park your car here, you have to pay or else find another place,” said Manish Bhatnagar, an government employee, who went shopping at Sadar Bazar in Central Delhi along with his family. Bhatnagar complained about this to the beat constable present in the area who suggested that he file a complaint. Bhatnagar chose not to, as he had neither time nor patience to deal with a police case.</p>.<p>The administrative officials and market associations too accept that problems of parking mafia exist at the crowded markets in the city. “To break the stronghold of the parking mafia, the corporation has come up with a unique plan. It has issued a tender of parking slots for ex-army personnel. At least we believe that they will be more honest ,” said an MCD official requesting anonymity.</p>.<p>The parking mafias after getting contracts to run the parking slots from the various administrative bodies sub-let them to others after pocketing the profit in between. “They even increase area of the parking slot given to them to earn extra amount,” said the official adding that sometime police in connvinace with such people create an illegal parking space where there should not have been parking. While police refuted the claims, a senior police official suggests that if there are any issues, people should come forward and lodge a complaint.<br /><br />Praveen Kumar, president Sadar Bazar Traders’ Association claimed no matter what the police says, the fact is there is no market in the city where illegal parking lots do not flourish,thanks to the police-contractors nexus.</p>
