CHENNAI: It has been more than two years since a contractor has been assigned for two and four-wheeler parking at the Velachery MRTS station. Commuters park vehicles on bylanes and in the old parking lot, and are worried about theft.
"The contract expired in October, 2019 and has not been renewed. Commuters park their vehicles for free and wherever they want, without any regard for others," said R Lakshmanan, a resident of Velachery and a regular commuter.
Since there is no regulation, anti-social activities are frequent at the place at night. Tipplers park their vehicles in the parking lot and drink there. Commuters also said some of them were groped and lewd comments were passed.
During the daytime, chaos is inevitable. Commuters park their vehicles in a haphazard manner and end up the blocking way for others. "On Friday, it took me an hour just to move other vehicles and take my vehicle out of the parking spot. Ideally, the State is supposed to encourage public transport, but it seems that they are discouraging it over here," said R Samyukta, another commuter.
The station has another parking lot on the northern side, for which the commuters from the south, including Madipakkam, Adambakkam, Puzhithivakkam and Velachery have to take a long detour. According to official estimates, the administration could have earned at least Rs 30,000 per day if the contract lot was operating.
When contacted, an official from the Railways said the delay is due to the multi-level parking project. A contractor will be fixed soon if the multi-level parking is delayed any further.