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PARKING WOES :Five minutes warning time must before vehicles are towed: Lucknow mayor
: Case I Barely two minutes after he had parked his car in front of an ATM to collect cash, Anurag Pandey, a Mahanagar colony resident, saw his car being towed away by Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) authorities
: Case I
Barely two minutes after he had parked his car in front of an ATM to collect cash, Anurag Pandey, a Mahanagar colony resident, saw his car being towed away by Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) authorities. He got his car back after paying a fine of ₹2100. “No one warned me about not parking the car on the side of the road. No announcement was made before my vehicle was towed away,” Pandey said.
Case II
Neerja Mishra, a Gomtinagar colony resident said, “My car was towed away when I had walked just 100 yards away from it. The men, deployed by LMC to tow the vehicles, did make an announcement claiming the vehicle was wrongly parked. That wasn’t the case but when I objected the LMC contractual staff misbehaved with me and released my vehicle only after I had paid the penalty.”
Vehicles being towed, without prior warning and being released after paying hefty fines has become a common feature in the state capital.
The residents complain most of the time no announcement is made, before the vehicles were towed. “In rare cases when announcements are made, the volume of the public address system is so low that the warnings are barely audible,” Mishra said.
Taking note of such complaints of harassment by LMC’s contractual staff, Lucknow mayor Sanyukta Bhatia has now directed the authorities to allow five minutes to each person to remove their vehicle.
“Now, no vehicle would be towed without a warning and giving five minutes time to people to respond to the warning. The entire process of vehicle being lifted for unauthorised parking will have to be recorded,” Bhatia said.
“Further, all the vehicles can be towed away only from no parking zones and the entire process should be done in a manner to ensure that the vehicles aren’t damaged,” she said.
“I will write again to officials to stop contractors from harassing common man,” she said.
Chief tax fixation officer of LMC Ashok Singh said, “We will take stern action against any contractor who misuses authority.”
