August 2017

SURAT: Shailesh Nagar, a private bank executive, lives in Nanpura. Nagar owns a car, but has no parking space in his locality. Nagar has been parking his car in the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) multi-level car park near Gandhi Smruti Bhavan for several months after paying a lump sum to the contractor.
Similarly, a textile trader on Ring Road, Krishna Aggarwal, has also struck a deal with the tiered parking contractor near Abhishek Market to dump his textile goods as well as park his car on a monthly rental. These are not isolated cases. Majority of the multi-level car parks and fee-paying facilities created by the civic body are misused by entrepreneurs to earn huge revenue.
The SMC may have created parking spots all over the city to control growing traffic congestion, but contractors are raking in the moolah by giving the parking spots on lease, while people are forced to park their vehicles on the road.
When TOI visited the payment and parking facility under the Ring Road flyover, we found gray fabric “potlas” stacked in the parking space, leaving little space for parking two-wheelers.
The parking fee collector boy, Raju, said there was no space to park the vehicle due to the dumping of gray cloth parcels. The plots are owned by textile traders and they pay monthly rent to the parking contractor.
“I can’t allow you to park here because there is no space. You go further down the road or park your vehicle somewhere else,” the parking fee collector boy said.
Nilay Jani and his wife had come to the textile market to buy saris and clothes. They walked around the parking lot, but couldn’t find a place to park their car. They even visited the multi-level parking lot of Abhishek market, but were told that the parking lot was packed.
“I don’t understand where people should park their vehicles. You have paid and multi-level car parks, but they are occupied by traders and tempowalas,” Jani said.
The scene at the Kadar Shah Ni Naal multi-level car park in Nanpura was horrible. The bottom floor of the parking lot was occupied by junkyard workers and a few handcarts were parked inside. When questioned, the contractor stated that there was no parking space available.
A multi-level parking contractor said: “Commuters here do not prefer to park their vehicles in the multi-level car park. If we don’t allow others to park with a fixed monthly rent, we would have to shut down our business. We pay a nice sum to SMC for the rental of the multi-level car park. »
Unethical practices stifle a good project
HimansshuBhatt & Melvyn.ReggieThomas
Surat: Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has set up nine multi-level car parks and 27 paid facilities across the city, as well as three additional car parks at Ghod Dod Science Center, Pal Aquarium and Sanjeev Auditorium Kumar in Adajan.
The civic body earns Rs 11 crore per year from car parks. But, due to unethical practices adopted by private contractors, the general public is being denied a proper parking space. The rental of parking spaces on a monthly basis is very visible on Ring Road.
Figures from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) indicate that Diamond City has more than 3 lakh cars and 22 lakh two-wheelers.
The nine multi-level car parks in different municipal areas can accommodate approximately 5,000 two-wheelers and 1,000 cars. Apart from these, there are 27 paid and parking facilities under flyovers, open spaces, service roads, etc.
The city has 200ft wide roads at major locations, but parking space is very limited. Thus, commuters are forced to park their vehicles on the side of the road, which leads to traffic jams.
Former President of South Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, BS Agarwal said, “Parking is a major problem in the city. If we talk about our own facility in Nanpura, we don’t have parking space. During my tenure, I had submitted a proposal to the civic body to provide 100 square meters of land at Makkai Pool to create a “puzzle parking lot” – an automated parking lot for cars. »
The special municipal commissioner, M Nagrajan, told TOI: “We will investigate and take strict action against contractors who rent out parking spaces. Parking lots are created for the general public and cannot be rented by contractors on a monthly basis.
METER
1 Number of multi-level car parks: 9
2. Number of pay and parking facilities: 27
3. Total parking capacity: 12,000 vehicles (cars and two-wheelers)
4. Total number of cars: 3,000,000
5. Total number of two-wheelers: 22 lakh.
TIMES VIEW: Surat Municipal Corporation faces innumerable challenges in formulating a decisive parking policy for the city where more than 50,000 four-wheelers and 1 lakh two-wheelers are registered every year. The civic body had created parking lots throughout the city, but they are being misused by contractors, who rent the space on a monthly basis. The new parking policy, which should be announced shortly, should include strict clauses for these unscrupulous contractors.