Overcharging of parking services at Shivajinagar and Pune railway stations which the authorities say is due to the lack of bidders for parking contracts has left the customers fuming. Officials of the Pune division of Central Railways said that while they are fully aware of the inconvenience to passengers,their hands are tied. Contractors are not willing to bid for railway station parking contracts. In fact,we invite open bids to attract more bidders but still we hardly get any. When we floated the tenders last time,we approached several contractors who provide parking services at nearby stations,but we got a lukewarm response. For Pune and Shivajinagar railway station,we only got one bidder. We had to give the contract to him as we had no other choice, said a senior Pune division official. In past few months,he said the contractor was penalised several times after receiving parking-related complaints at Shivajinagar station. We cant terminate the contract as there is no one to take up the job. Neither can we leave the parking lot at the mercy of commuters. Local goons will encroach upon the space and it will be a new headache for us, said the officials. On May 23 Newsline had reported that the contractor at Shivajinagar station was overcharging over a 1,000 two-wheelers owners Rs 10 for six hours instead of Rs 5 for the same. Following your report we had imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the contractor, said Alok Badgul,Senior Divisional Commercial Manager. He added, The charges stipulated by Railways for a two-wheeler are Rs 5 for six hours and Rs 10 for four hours for a four-wheeler. The contractor used the stamp on the receipt in such a way that the customers could not read the portion where the rate of Rs 5 for two-wheelers was mentioned and could only view the part that showed Rs 10,the rate for four-wheelers.
