Fed up with inflated costs and lack of space; free, well-managed parking lots by PMC staff delight … – Hindustan Times

After reports of mismanagement of public parking lots surfaced, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) deputed their own employees to manage indoor parking lots across the city three months ago. This initiative of the civic body has invited appreciation from residents.

The Satish Misal parking lot in Mandai is free of cost for motorists and is one of the PMC parking lots which is being managed by the civic body employees since the past three months. Hindustan Times visited the parking lot at Mandai, on Sunday, which is being operated by six PMC employees who are stationed on the five floors of the building.

Residents are still unaware that the parking lot is free and often wait for a challan (receipt). Ravi Kale, who came to shop at Mandai with his wife, after parking his two-wheeler, stopped to asked for a challan. When he was informed by the civic staff that parking is free, he seemed surprised. Earlier, whenever I visited Mandai and parked my vehicle here, I had to pay Rs 5 or Rs 10 depending upon the space available and the day of the week. Today being a Sunday, I was sceptical about getting a parking space, but I am lucky to find one and that too free of cost.

The decision to depute PMC employees was taken by the land management department of the civic body following complaints from residents and cases of financial irregularities by private contractors.

Rajendra Muthe, deputy commissioner, who gave the go-ahead for its implementation, said, There are 142 parking lots in the city and of these, the PMC has developed 29 parking lots, which had been given to private contractors to operate for three to five years. The PMC land management department found irregularities being undertaken by contractors during inspections, which were conducted during Ganesh festival this year (September). The contractor was overcharging motorists, issuing handwritten challans (citation) and had delayed installing close circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the parking lots.

Irregularities were reported at six parking lots in Mandai, two parking lots near Peshwa Park, Hamal Panchayat, and Laxmi road and hence, we decided to depute our civic staff to operate the parking lots, added Muthe.

Vidyadhar Dalvi, a PMC employee, who has been shifted from the anti-encroachment department to the parking lot duty at Mandai, said, We have two floors for two-wheelers and three floors for the parking of four-wheelers. We can park at least 1,500 two-wheelers while each floor above holds 70 four-wheelers each. We work in two shifts from 8am to 8pm. We are six of us and each one takes care of one floor, informing each other once there is space to park, using our mobile phones.

Namdeo Gaikwad, another PMC employee, who takes care of one of the floors and is in charge of security and safety of the parked vehicles, said, Presently, the upper floors are not lit as the electrical system is old and faulty. However, a week earlier, a team from PMC had come to survey the building and informed us that tube lights and bulbs will be fixed. Similarly, they also surveyed the building for points where the CCTVs can be installed.

Nivedita Gupte, a resident who uses the parking lot at Mandai, said, The authorities should fix the tube lights at the earliest. Also, there is no working lift in the building, which if installed, can be a boon to the people using the parking service.

Sandip Choudhary, a regular visitor to Mandai, said, I wish they could keep the parking lot open until 10pm, most of the shopkeepers like me close shops by 9.30pm and hence, despite this being free, we have to go to the paid parking lot to park our vehicles post 8pm.

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Fed up with inflated costs and lack of space; free, well-managed parking lots by PMC staff delight ... - Hindustan Times