Demand to drop 'pay and park' system in Mysuru

As the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) is planning to introduce pay and park system in select areas of the city from this month-end, a section of citizens has appealed to Mayor B L Bhyrappa to drop the proposal in public interest.

At an interaction with the mayor, Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore (ACICM) Convener M Lakshmana emphasised on 10 points listed by him, strongly resented the new parking system stating that it was a hasty decision taken during the last meeting of then outgoing mayor in 2012.

Lakshmana said that according to Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act, 1976, sections 285 and 288 (5), there is no provision for any such pay and park system, besides awarding its contract or creating any hurdles in general ‘on street’.

He said, “If the local bodies own any public properties, they are entitled to build multistoreyed parking lots. Moreover, it is unscientific to fix parking fee according to the land value per square foot of land as it may amount to swindling money. If the land value at D Devaraja Urs Road, is calculated at Rs 20,000 per square feet and MCC collects 0.25 per cent of the same as fees that differs for types of vehicles and hours, a car will be charged Rs 50 for four hours. Even if one parks vehicles for even 10 minutes, they have to shell out Rs 50. For two-wheelers, it is fixed at 0.125 per cent and will be charged Rs 25 for four hours.”

Most importantly, it would be risky to award the work to a contractor in the wake of a recent unsavoury experience, where the MCC had to wait for 25 hours to vacate a contractor from the parking lot at K R Circle. In case of road widening, the contractor should give his consent, that would be another issue again. That apart, at the time of buying vehicles, lifetime road tax is collected by the regional transport offices (RTO). As per rules, the Transport Department should hand over at least 15 per cent of the tax amount to each of local bodies and the Police Department towards maintenance of roads and safety of  vehicles respectively, he stated.

Before introducing any system, public opinion is a must, as it amounts to dictatorial attitude, otherwise. It would be detrimental on vehicle users, who will be visiting different parts of the city on work, he said.

Instead, the MCC should concentrate on collecting arrears of property tax to mobilise resources. Though an estimated amount of Rs 40 crore has been released to build multistoreyed parking lots under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) eight years ago, it remains on paper still, he added.