Calling ex-soldiers to man the borders of MCD’s parking lots

Fed up of the parking attendant overcharging you every time you park your car at the neighbourhood market? Help is at hand, finally.

Fed up of the parking attendant overcharging you every time you park your car at the neighbourhood market? Help is at hand, finally.

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Now, 161 parking lots in the Capital —which are run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)—will be monitered by none less than ex-soldiers, to check that parking contractors do not fleece people.

Facing a spate of complaints about parking attendants overcharging the public, MCD is roping in 25 ex-army men to rein in the parking mafia in the city.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna has given the green signal to the plan. The civic agency will be issuing an order this week to all its deputy commissioners informing them about the decision.

“We had received a number of complaints from the public about being overcharged or getting into arguments with the attendants,” said MCD Commissioner K S Mehra.

“The ex-servicemen are trained staff and they will be able to deal with such miscreants in an effective manner.”

MCD officials said the idea was floated after a growing number of incidents where MCD enforcement staff were beaten up by parking contractors when they tried to remove illegal parking sites.

The ex-servicemen would initially work on a contractual basis for a period of six months.

Their contract will be extended, depending on their eficacy.

As per the plan, the ex-army men—in the age group of 25-35—will be used selectively by the civic agency across the city to improve enforcement in areas such as parking, unauthorized construction and encroachment.