Residents, shopkeepers oppose paid parking

Residents and shopkeepers are up in arms against paid parking at the Sector-31 market here. The contractor of the parking lot has put a barrier at the entrance of the market complex, forcing shopowners to pay for the facility. The shopkeepers, on the other hand, say they should be allowed to use parking space free-of-cost.

Residents and shopkeepers are up in arms against paid parking at the Sector-31 market here.

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The contractor of the parking lot has put a barrier at the entrance of the market complex, forcing shopowners to pay for the facility. The shopkeepers, on the other hand, say they should be allowed to use parking space free-of-cost.

“The price of each shop here is about R1.2 crore which includes the space for parking our cars. Paying for parking here is like paying for parking at my house,” said MK Taneja, who owns a medicine shop at the market.

Residents of Sector 31 also complained that they are being harassed by the paid parking system. “We go to the market regularly for our various daily needs and have to pay for parking every time,”said Sanjay Garg, a resident.

Members of the shopkeepers’ welfare association have given a written complaint to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) against the contractor.

The parking contractor, Vishal Parashar, said he was unable make any profit after paying monthly rent to Huda.“We pay monthly rent of R1.65 lakh plus service tax to Huda and can hardly make profits. We can’t even return the contract as the security deposit will be forfeited,” he said.

Parashar said that most shopkeepers still do not pay the fixed parking fees — R1,000 for cars and R400 for two-wheeleres. The paid parking system was started in January but the contractor has put the barrier earlier this month.

“We had to put barriers as we were suffering losses. Most people refused to pay the charges while we are still paying monthly rent to Huda,” said Parashar.Shopkeeprs also complained about the height of the barrier, saying it restricts the movement of heavy vehicles. “The maximum height of the barrier would not allow a fire tender to pass through in case of an emergency,” said M C Yadav, general secretary, shopkeepers’ welfare association.