Contractors double parking fee illegally

LAHORE, April 15: As the City District Government of Lahore is busy in retrieving state land from occupants, removing moveable encroachments and pulling down illegal structures, contractors have doubled the parking fee at and around almost all commercial centres in the Punjab capital. A survey of various city areas revealed on Thursday that contractors were charging Rs10 and Rs20 for motorcycles and cars, respectively. Ironically, contractors at the Court Street, a few yards from the Commissioner's Office on Dev Samaj Road, and Kashmir Road adjacent to Lahore Development Authority's main complex on Egerton Road were found charging double fee like Gulberg's Main Boulevard near Hafeez Centre and the Main Market. However, the contractors at Jinnah Hall and District Courts were charging according to the agreements they had with the CDGL in July last year. According to the terms of the agreements, the contractors were bound to charge Rs5 for a motorcycle and Rs10 for a car. An official of the CDGL said through open bidding contracts were awarded along roads under control of the city government. "Parking stands elsewhere had been and are responsibility of the town municipal administrations concerned and the CDGL has nothing to do with them," said the official who wished not to be named. "Businessmen and mechanics use Jail Road, Samanabad's main boulevard, Montgomery, Queen's and Mozang roads or service lanes and pavements as an extension of their showrooms and workshops. The practice is going on in other commercial centres of the city where traders rent out spaces outside their shops as well. Hundreds of permanent illegal structures have been removed during the ongoing operation against encroachments but the menace of moveable encroachments cannot be controlled, primarily owing to the corrupt in the CDGL and TMAs who inform encroachers in advance about any operation," the official said. Regarding a lack of parking spaces in various city areas, the official blamed TMAs concerned for not conducting effective and continuous operations against encroachers in almost all city bazaars.