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Chandigarh MC floats tender but no mention of free-parking plan
On July 9, the House, cutting across party lines, had unanimously passed the resolution for free parking across city
Even after the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) House, with the backing of MP Manish Tewari, had resolved to press on for its previously approved agenda of free-parking across the city, the civic body on Wednesday floated tenders for the ‘Smart Parking’ project, without the free-parking proposal.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress councillors, who were contesting as an alliance of INDIA bloc in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, had first approved the free-parking proposal, along with 20,000 litres of free water monthly for each household, in the House on March 7, just few days before the elections were notified. However, the then Punjab governor and UT administrator Banwari Lal Purohit on June 14 annulled both the freebies.
“Keeping in mind the cost, long-term nature of the project, return on investment, to protect the financial interest of MC and to ensure that the revenue of the organisation does not fall below the existing revenue, the free parking proposal has been dropped and the new parking rates are approved. The MC is directed to deal with matters of allotment of the contracts in accordance with the applicable rules and instructions,” the UT administration had said, while dropping the proposal on June 14.
Cutting across party lines, the councillors, backed by MP Manish Tewari, had unanimously passed the resolution in the House on July 9, citing, “The Chandigarh administration annulled the resolutions (free water and free parking) by evoking powers under Section 423 of the MC Act, which says that the government may annul an illegal proceeding passed by the House. Also, the Act envisages a mandatory show-cause notice to MC and no such notice was served. The decision taken by outrightly rejecting the agenda is illegal and the annulment is therefore void ab-into for lack of following due process”.
Uniform rates to apply
On Wednesday, MC floated a tender to invite private firms for design, development, implementation, operation and maintenance of smart parking on PPP (public-private partnership) mode. The firms can submit their bids by August 23.
As per the tender, uniform rates will be applicable irrespective of the vehicle’s registration place. As per the new rates, the first 20 minutes will be free for pick and drop. No increase has been made in the existing parking charges for two and four-wheelers for the first slab of four hours, which are ₹7 and ₹14, respectively.
But thereon, hourly rates have been introduced to facilitate circulation of vehicles and optimum utilisation of parking space.
Also, parking in underground facilities has been incentivised by charging ₹5 less than the surface parking rates in all slabs. Further, to encourage the use of digital payments, MC will charge ₹5 extra in case of cash payments. Monthly passes will be introduced at ₹300 per month for underground parking and ₹400 for surface parking.
Free parking is AAP’s long-pending promise
The free water and free parking giveaways were originally part of AAP’s manifesto in the 2021 MC elections, but were delayed by the party’s struggle to secure the mayor’s chair for the past two years.
After Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor, who owes allegiance to the AAP, finally took charge as the mayor in February this year, following a long-drawn legal battle that went up to the Supreme Court, the INDIA bloc councillors had approved the two freebies on March 7. The Congress had also promised free 20,000 litres of water to every household every month in its Lok Sabha poll manifesto. From parking lots, the MC generates over ₹1 crore every month and free parking will result in at least ₹12 crore revenue loss every year.
Soon, app-based electric taxis may not need permit to ply
For app-based taxis that run on electricity, ethanol or methanol, the UT administration is planning to do away with the requirement of a permit.
In the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Rules- 2024 draft, the administration is planning to give the exemption, subject to commercial insurance of the vehicle and fulfillment of other formalities, with an aim to cut pollution levels in the city.
Under the draft rules, the aggregators may provide pooling facilities to riders whose details and KYC are available. Female passengers seeking to avail ride pooling shall also be provided the option to pool only with other female passengers.
The city taxi fare indexed by Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the current year will be the base fare chargeable to customers. The base minimum fare chargeable to customers shall be for a minimum of 3 kilometres to compensate for dead mileage and distance travelled and fuel utilised for picking up the customers.
The aggregator shall be permitted to charge a fare 50% lower than the base fare and a maximum surge pricing of 1.5 times the base fare.
Also, on cancellation of a booking by a rider or the firm, subsequent to booking a ride on the App, a penalty of 10% of the total fare not exceeding ₹100, shall be imposed, when such cancellation is made without such valid reason.
Ensuring appropriate functioning of the GPS installed in the vehicle. The aggregator shall ensure for installation of vehicle location tracking device (VLTD) in vehicles from other states also for the safety of passengers.
