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Chandigarh mayor miffed with admn for ‘meddling in MC affairs’
Chandigarh mayor Anup Gupta takes exception to UT adviser Dharam Pal chairing a meeting on smart parking policy before it was taken up in the MC House
UT adviser Dharam Pal’s recent meeting with Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) officials over the smart parking policy has not gone down well with mayor Anup Gupta who felt that the issue should have been tabled in the House meeting first.
Referring to the adviser’s February 23 meeting, wherein he directed the MC officials to expedite floating of tenders for parking lots, the mayor said, “It was surprising that the smart parking policy, which should have been discussed in the House first, has been taken up by the UT administration.”
He added that he got to know about the meeting though media reports. Mayor Gupta further said, “The management of parking lots falls within the purview of the civic body.”
When contacted, the UT adviser said, “We only took up the proposal in the (February 23) meeting. It will be taken up in the House meeting now. We just want to expedite the work of smart parking.”
It is pertinent to mention that for almost three weeks, the city’s parking lots had remained unmanned and were running for free after the agreement of the contractor tasked with managing it, expired on January 30. On February 21, the MC had taken charge of 27 out of 89 parking lots in the city as a stop-gap arrangement till a contractor is finalised.
This is not the first time that the mayor has been in disagreement with the UT. On February 11, he had staged a protest against UT estate office after they sealed the Bharat Vikas Parishad Charitable Diagnostic Centre in Sector 24 over building violations. Few minutes into the protest, the officials had desealed the centre. Mayor Gupta, who is a trustee of the parishad, had also taken up the matter with higher authorities, seeking action against the estate office.
House to take up parking lots issue on March 6
The smart parking issue is to come up in the MC House meeting scheduled for March 6. In a proposal sent to the MC, the Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) had elaborated on the plan to introduce FASTag-enabled parking management system at all 89 parking lots in the city. Drivers without FASTag can pay with other digital payment methods such as UPI and Paytm, or even with cash.
The adviser said 25% of the 89 parking lots will be converted into smart parking within 30 days of allotment of work. Detailing the smart features, he said the new parking system will include a mobile app for booking parking slots, separate parking for two-wheelers, proper demarcated parking slots, dynamic pricing, and parking availability status, to be managed by the central control centre.
