CHENNAI: To curtail on-street parking on Theyagaraya Road in T Nagar and to divert motorists to the Multi Level Car Park (MLCP), which is only a few metres away, the corporation has increased charges for on-street parking. A council resolution to this effect was passed on Tuesday.
Premium charges of Rs 15/hour for two-wheelers and Rs 60/hour for four-wheelers will be collected with immediate effect for on-street parking, a rise from the existing Rs 5/hour for two-wheelers and Rs 20/hour for four-wheelers. Those parking at the MLCP, however, may continue paying the older rates.
“The GCC has constructed a good MLCP facility in the area but people prefer using on-street parking. To incentivise usage of the MLCP, we have increased parking charges for on-street parking,” said a corporation official.
The MLCP was constructed at a cost of Rs 40 crore with a capacity to accommodate 222 equivalent car spaces and 513 two-wheelers. However, with only a few takers in May, the collection was only Rs 1.16 lakh. With the revision of charges, one side of the Pedestrian Plaza is to be notified as ‘No Parking.’
Service providers to be penalised for overcharging
Due to non-performance of service providers-Toorq Media Services, the corporation, in a separate resolution, sought to amend the contract by introducing a series of penalties and restricting its scope of operation due to its failure to generate the revenue target.
As part of the revised conditions, any proven instance of overcharging or misbehaviour by the attenders will cost the service provider Rs 5,000 per case. Moreover, the service provider is to digitise the grievance redressal mechanism and provide the civic body periodic updates.
While the corporation’s basic revenue estimate shows that with the 11,650 equivalent car spaces across the city, an average collection of Rs 11.65 lakh per day could be brought in. However, the service provider had reported an average collection of only Rs 1.7 lakh per day.