New parking fee slabs get nod, vehicles from outside Chandigarh to be charged double the rate

“For all vehicles outside Tricity, i.e. other than Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, the parking rate in each slab would be double,” Chandigarh Mayor Anup Gupta said after deliberate discussions in the House.

The House also amended and approved few parking slab structures for the Tricity residents. While all two-wheelers would not have to shell out any penny and are exempted from the parking fee, the slab for four-wheelers was amended.

While, for the residents of Panchkula, Chandigarh, and Mohali, for first ten minutes, parking would be free for personal four-wheelers (non-commercial), from 10 minutes to 240 minutes (that is up to 4 hours), the parking charge has been amended from proposed Rs 20 to Rs 15. Meanwhile, for charges from 240 minutes to 480 minutes (4 hours to 8 hours), Rs 20 have been approved instead of proposed Rs 25. All the remaining slabs would be the same that is Rs 10 per hour for 480 minutes to 1440 min(8 hours to 24 hours). The day pass (multiple entries) for 12 hours would be Rs 50.

For parking near Elante and Fun Republic malls, the house resolved that from 0 to 4 hours, the charge would be Rs 70 instead of proposed Rs 90, and Rs 130 instead of Rs 150 from 4 hours to 8 hours. From 8 hours to 24 hours, it would be Rs 20 per hour.

These rates would be double in every slab for outside vehicles i.e. for up to four hours, these outside vehicles will have to pay Rs 30 and so on. Near Elante and Fun Republic malls, such four-wheelers will pay Rs 140 for parking up to 4 hours.

The monthly parking pass amount which was proposed at Rs 500 for non-commercial four-wheelers has been amended to Rs 300 and that of commercial has been changed from Rs 1,000 to Rs 800. The changes in the first slab were made after few councillors highlighted that a movie ticket would cost Rs 120 and parking will be Rs 90.

Opposition calls smart parking ‘eyewash’

As civic body stated that they would get smart parking this time with FASTag, RFID tags etc, SAD councillor Hardeep Singh alleged that “this smart parking was an eyewash as he has been seeing it for the past seven to eight years that smart facilities are being promised but nothing got implemented.”

The councillor also questioned why are outside contractors required for the work of smart parking. “We get contractors smarter than us, who outsmart us and they never bring in smart parking,” Hardeep added.

A Congress councillor questioned the movie of keeping parking free for those with Rs 20 lakh electric cars, adding that lower-middle class – which has mid segment cars – will be paying a hefty sum.

“Those elite people who have the ability to purchase the electric cars of Rs 20 lakh are going to be given free parking, and those belonging to the lower-middle who have mid-segment cars will have to shell out through the roof. This is unjust,” Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh said.

Can’t exempt 11,000 MC employees: Commissioner

As councillors suggested some exemptions like those to farmers having tractor trolleys bearing Chandigarh number, employees of the civic body and other categories, Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra said that the UT offers the lowest amount and “this way no one would invest in any project”.

“When a person invests Rs 15 crore to 20 crore and he doesn’t recover the same in one year, he wouldn’t find it financially viable too. We have to look in the financial health also of the corporation. Every year, salaries and other committed liabilities are increasing,” Mitra added. She also said that “there are 11,000 employees and they can’t exempt every category” as otherwise it would cause huge financial loss, and in every parking lot they would seek exemption.

Mayor Anup Gupta stated that they will prepare a white list in which vehicles of dignitaries would be exempted. Mitra also said that this parking system would be entirely transparent with an escrow account which will be jointly handled by the Municipal Corporation and the contractor. “It will be entirely transparent which will also give a proper mechanical account of how many vehicles entered and exited and the amount collected on daily basis,” the commissioner explained. She said this will help in reducing incidents of overcharging or other issues.

Residents oppose move

Several students, office-goers from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana commute to the Tricity, and will be affected by the move. Many residents from Punjab and Haryana complained that if they they park their vehicles in their state’s capital city, they have to pay double the amount charged.

“You stay in Chandigarh, work in Chandigarh, spend in Chandigarh, pay taxes in Chandigarh, still pay double parking because you did not get your car registered here,” Rajesh Kumar, a resident said.

Differential charge to monitor cash payments

The commissioner also said that this time intentionally a differential charge has been kept for those who pay cash so that all the payments are monitored. For this who pay parking fee in cash, they will have to pay Rs 5 extra on their personal vehicle, and Rs 10 on the non-commercial vehicle.

“There would be QR codes and all other avenues through which people can pay digitally. This will also help in checking the overcharging done by the contractor,” Mitra added. It was suggested that the passes will be available electronically so that people do not need to stand in queues.

She also said that day passes have been introduced for people who don’t stay in Chandigarh and come rarely for a day and don’t find taking monthly passes feasible. “A regular customer who comes daily like a shopkeeper or any office goer will it find it really economical for taking a monthly pass and it will cost them just Rs 10 on average as the entire pass will cost them Rs 300,” Mitra said.