Traders at Sector 18 market ask Noida authority to waive off parking charges

Noida: Traders have claimed that the footfall at the Sector 18 market is almost zero due to “high” parking rates in the area and asked the Noida authority to waive off the parking fees for a few months

Noida: Traders have claimed that the footfall at the Sector 18 market is almost zero due to “high” parking rates in the area and asked the Noida authority to waive off the parking fees for a few months.

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According to SK Jain, president of the Sector 18 Market Association, high parking charges are a deterrent for shoppers to come to the market.

“We earlier used to have walking crowd in the market because of the large number of offices located here. But now, since most of the offices are closed, we can only rely on those customers who prefer to visit the market for shopping. But even such shoppers are driven away from the market due to the high parking charges here,” said Jain.

The parking rates at the Sector 18 market for four wheelers are ₹50 for the first two hours and ₹50 for subsequent hours. Similarly, for two wheelers, the charges are ₹25 for the first two hours and ₹25 for each subsequent hour.

Amit Jain, who owns a watch showroom at the market, believes that the high parking charges have not just reduced the number of shoppers, but almost stopped them from coming to the market.

“The business has been badly hit due to the Covid pandemic. On top of that, the high parking charges are driving customers away from the market. A shopper usually spends 2-3 hours at the market. Why would they pay ₹100 for parking charges when they can easily order online the same product?” said Amit.

Last week, the market association wrote a letter to the Noida authority chief executive officer Ritu Maheshwari, requesting her to waive off the parking charges in the market until all restrictions are lifted by the district administration.

“After the lifting of lockdown last year, you had accepting our demands and waived off the parking fee in Sector 18 for about four months. We sincerely thank you again for providing this facility. Now since restrictions have not been removed completely, with weekend and night curfew still imposed, we request you to keep the parking free at least till the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic are removed completely.”

When asked, Maheshwari said that the authority has no plans to reduce the parking charges or waive off the fees.

“We had accepted the association’s demand last year. However, there are no such plans this year — neither to reduce the parking charges nor to waive off for a limited period,” said Maheshwari.

Another issue that the traders say has been a nuisance to shop owners as well as shoppers is the frequent clipping (jamming of tyres) of four wheelers and lifting (in case of two wheelers) of vehicles by the parking contractors.

As per the Noida authority officials, the frequency of clipping of cars parked in ‘no parking’ zone has been increased after allegations that the contractors were making money by charging for cars parked in that zone as well.

“After these allegations were raised by the Sector 18 Market Association, the contractors were told that if any vehicle is found parked in the ‘no parking’ zone, they will be held responsible. Hence, they were told to clip the vehicles and fine them if found in the ‘no parking’ zone. Currently, around 25-30 vehicles are being clipped in a day at the market,” said an authority official requesting anonymity.