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Now, pay digitally at 73 Chandigarh parking lots
In an effort to decongest parking lots and earn more revenue, the civic body is set to launch a revamped parking management system from May 1, featuring digital payments, differentiated receipts and more uniformed staff for parking management
Come May 1, visitors at 73 parking lots, being run by the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC), will be able to pay the parking fee through QR Code scanner.
In an effort to decongest parking lots and earn more revenue, the civic body is set to launch a revamped parking management system from May 1, featuring digital payments, differentiated receipts and more uniformed staff for parking management.
Currently, the civic body charges ₹7 for two-wheelers and ₹14 for four-wheelers, accepting only cash at most of the parking lots, which holds up vehicles in long queues, further leading to traffic chaos.
Municipal commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “From May 1, we are revamping parking management. Visitors will be able to pay digitally. Parking staff will have new uniforms and ID cards, so that people can identify them easily. By transitioning from cash-based transactions to electronic payments, the corporation also aims to reduce opportunities for fraud and leakages, and ensure that all revenue is accurately recorded and accounted for. This move will not only streamline the parking process for citizens, but also enable better monitoring of funds, ultimately contributing to more efficient municipal services.”
In all, Chandigarh has 89 parking lots on around 5.22 lakh square metre area, which can house 16,030 equivalent car spaces (ECS).
These parking lots were previously being managed by private firms. But their contracts were terminated in January 2023 over the alleged multi-crore parking scam.
From February 21, 2024, the civic body started operating 73 out of the 89 parking lots after arranging requisite manpower and POS machines from private banks, while parking at remaining lots remains free due to low occupancy and limited manpower for management.
MC is earning an estimated around ₹1 crore every month from the 73 parking lots, which is higher than the average managed by the private contractors.
