No April 1 joke?Pay Rs 10, 20 to park in Ganj!

FROM APRIL 1, a visit to Hazratganj and Aminabad could be four times more taxing for owners of two-and-four-wheelers. That?s if the parking rates proposed by LMC officials were accepted by district magistrate RN Tripathi, also the administrator of the LMC. Parking rates would be different in the Aminabad and Hazratganj markets from the rest of the city. According to LMC officials, parking rates for Aminabad and Hazratganj had been kept higher to discourage congestion caused by private vehicles in these areas.

FROM APRIL 1, a visit to Hazratganj and Aminabad could be four times more taxing for owners of two-and-four-wheelers. That’s if the parking rates proposed by LMC officials were accepted by district magistrate RN Tripathi, also the administrator of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.

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Parking rates would be different in the Aminabad and Hazratganj markets from the rest of the city. According to LMC officials, parking rates for Aminabad and Hazratganj had been kept higher to discourage congestion caused by private vehicles in these areas.

According to LMC officials, rates at Aminabad and Hazratganj would be imposed from April 1. People will have to dole out Rs 10 for parking a two-wheeler and Rs 20 for the parking of four wheelers in these markets. Rates for the rest of the city had been fixed at Rs 5 for two-wheelers and and Rs 10 for four-wheelers. Rate for parking of bicycles, however, remain unchanged.

“These rates have been decided after recommendation of the district administration to discourage plying of private vehicles on city roads,” said a higher official of the LMC, adding in the same vein, “It has become difficult to move in the market due to high number of vehicles. We want to encourage use of public transport over private transport. With increase in parking rates, we hope to put the brakes on use of private vehicles visiting the market.”

LMC will arrange parking outside these places and earn revenue from them, said Municipal Commissioner Santosh Kumar. He added, “To improve the parking system in the city, identity card and uniform for parking attendants has been made mandatory. Any violation of rules will invite a fine of Rs 10,000 for the contractors of parking stands below Rs 1 lakh value. Fine amount would be Rs 25,000 for parking stands above Rs 1 lakh in value.”

“How can they hike parking rates without consulting us. Only last year they had increased the parking rates and fixed them at Rs 3 and Rs 5 for two and four-wheelers for a maximum of four hours. Why have they increased the parking charges now?” asked president of Hazratganj Traders’ Association Kishan Chand Bhambwani.

He added, “Some vested interests are being served by the officials and we suspect it’s a plan to kill our business. They don’t want to discourage use of private transport, but actually to discourage movement of people in Hazratganj. The shopping mall culture has already hit us below the belt. I have called a meeting of traders in the area and we would decide the future course of action after the meeting.”

General secretary of Aminabad Traders’ Association Susheel Gurnani termed the proposal to hike parking rates as an effort to hit the market’s business. “

Aminabad is the market for poor and middle-class people. It will hit our staff, which reaches for work mostly on two-wheelers. We would protest the hike in a democratic way,” said Gurnani.

“If they want to control the number of vehicles on the road, they should stop manufacturing these vehicles in the first place. Government is supporting the sale of these vehicles to please industrialists and on other hand, discouraging people to use two-wheelers and four-wheelers to come to the market,” said Gurnani.