Tatanagar station parking contractor ends terms
In July this year, the In On Constitution had taken the contract for running the parking lot at Tatanagar station at ₹7 crore for three years, which was ₹3 crore more than the previous contract with Shell Engineering.
The In On Constitution company has stopped depositing the daily collection of parking fees and has surrendered the contract for the main entry parking lot at Tatanagar station, citing huge daily losses, officials confirmed on Monday, adding that the Railways have come out with fresh quotations for re-auction.
In July this year, the In On Constitution had taken the contract for running the parking lot at ₹7 crore for three years, which was ₹3 crore more than the previous contract with Shell Engineering.
“The In On Constitution has two more weeks of the penal period to pay the collection amount with a penal fine. If they fail, we will go for re-auctioning the main entry parking lot. We have already released fresh quotations,” Aditya Kumar Choudhary, senior divisional commercial manager (Sr DCM), Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway (SER), told HT on Monday.
An insider said the incumbent parking contractor threw up its hands and stopped depositing parking charge collection money by the end of November itself.
“The contractor has to deposit ₹1.97 crore plus 18% GST every year to the Railways, which requires a daily collection of around ₹70,000. The company has been collecting ₹8,000–10,000 less than the daily target, following which it threw up its hands,” the insider said.
According to railway officials, aspiring contract agencies were required to submit their applications by Monday at 10 am for a temporary period of 60 days. “The fresh quotation is for collecting parking charges from two-wheelers and three-wheelers for 60 days. Afterwards, a fresh auction will be held,” a Railways official said.
The In On Constitution has been subjected to scrutiny since taking over the parking lot at Tatanagar station on July 6 this year. The company faced public protests led by Potka JMM MLA Sanjib Sardar and letters to railway higher authorities by Jamshedpur MLA Saryu Roy, over an alleged exorbitant hike in parking fees, apart from several incidents of misbehaviour and manhandling of citizens leading to FIRs during its brief tenure.
