BBMP's East Zone ‘awards’ parking fee contracts without tenders

Bengaluru: The BBMP’s East Zone has seemingly engaged private agencies to collect parking fees from motorists on over 12 roads in the city’s core area, bypassing the standard tendering process.

While the daily revenue could easily run into lakhs of rupees, it is not known how much the agencies have been paying the civic body in return. Activists suspect the agencies may have bribed the officers to get the work directly.

The roads where parking fees are collected include Brigade Road, Kasturba Road, Lavelle Road, St Mark’s Road, Crescent Road, Museum Road, and Vittal Mallya Road, to name a few.

On Church Street, too, JD Enterprises, a private agency, has put up a board, stating it has received permission from the assistant revenue officer of the BBMP’s East Zone (advertisement) to collect parking fees. As per the board, the agency will collect Rs 15 per hour from two-wheelers and Rs 30 per hour from cars.

Some of these roads have had a paid parking system for the past two years, without any official intimation. Whenever motorists questioned the collection of fees, there have been instances where the private agency would stop collecting fees for a couple of days, only to come back.

Anil Nachappa, a spokesperson for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said the Lokayukta must file a case against the officers concerned as they have engaged private agencies without calling tenders and fixing a timeline.

“Had the tenders been called, the BBMP would have earned more revenue. The parking operators are fleecing people by using the BBMP logo and card. This is daylight robbery,” he said.

It has been learnt that the BBMP has collected Rs 1.5 lakh in a cheque as deposit amount from these agencies. It is, however, not clear how much the BBMP has been getting for the permission.

Suhail Yusuf, secretary of the Brigade Road Shops and Establishments Association, alleged that assistant revenue officers have taken money from unscrupulous elements to issue permissions without floating the tenders.

“Parking was earlier managed by the association meticulously. We were paying Rs 2.25 lakh per month to the BBMP by collecting only Rs 10 per hour per car. Now, it costs Rs 50 per hour for parking,” he said.

BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath told DH that zonal officers were entrusted to earn revenue by collecting parking fees. “We had insisted that tenders be called for parking fee collection. If it is not done, I will issue directions to stop it,” he promised.

BBMP’s zonal officers were not available for comment.