Illegal parking lots thrive as new system is yet to gain ground

Parking places in the CBD fleece motorists, don't even issue receipts

The delay in the implementation of new parking policy has come as a boon for many unauthorised parking lots which fleece vehicle owners in many localities, especially in commercial areas and the Central Business District, where finding parking space is difficult.

Hemanth K V of Rajajinagar isn’t a new victim of this menace. “When I demanded receipt, the parking attendant said he had run out of tokens. I later learnt that these men didn’t have the BBMP’s permission to run the parking lot,” he said.

Pooja Preetham, who works for a private firm, said the problem was prevalent mainly in and around MG Road and Brigade Road. Lester Serrao, who works in Electronics City, said he paid parking fees in Cubbon Park and Koramangala and never got a receipt. Karthik Prabhu, an IT professional, recalled how he had refused to pay to an unauthorised person near Fame Shankarnag Chitra Mandir on MG Road, though others paid up.

Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy called it a daylight robbery, saying an organised mafia with strong connections with government officials and police was behind it. “We have received many complaints from Gandhinagar and Basavanagudi. The BBMP is losing revenue and people are being harassed,” he said, promising that the issue would be resolved in two months when the park-and-pay system would be enforced on 56 roads.

Ramesh, who manages a parking lot in the CBD, insisted he doesn’t force motorists to pay. “Some people give us money, while a few don’t. I only help them to park their vehicles, which is why motorists readily give us some change.”

He said motorists readily paid up near MG Road and Brigade Road but not in areas like Majestic and KR Market. Those running such parking lots are confident that the park-and-pay system would not be implemented anytime soon as there would be public protests. “The BBMP will demand at least Rs 15, while we are paid only for helping the motorists,” he argued.

Two paid parking lots outsourced to private agencies on the Kempegowda Bus Station (KBS) and the Bengaluru City railway station premises are also are overcharging vehicle owners. Vignesh Achar, a private company employee, said that at the railway station parking lot, attendants demanded more than the fixed fees.

“A chart displayed at the parking lot clearly mentions the fee slab for each hour. But the attendant demands Rs 15 more. Once I called his bluff and threatened to complain, forcing him to budge,” he recalled. Sulbha Bhat, another resident, said he had paid up at the KBS parking lot but wasn’t given a receipt.

Complaints received

Officials in the BBMP, the KSRTC and the railways told Deccan Herald they had received many such complaints. “We have fined the contractor up to Rs 200 whenever there was a complaint,” a senior official in the KSRTC said.

N S Sridhar Murthy, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (DCM), Bengaluru division, South Western Railway, said that since parking fees had been clearly listed on a chart, motorists must insist on paying accordingly.