PANAJI
With nothing to boast about from its previous attempts, the Corporation of the City of Panaji is now bracing itself for its third attempt at implementing a pay parking scheme on some of the city's major roads and streets.
Non-recovery of some Rs 24 lakhs from the contractor it engaged and a complete mess in managing the pay parking in its past efforts, questions are now being raised whether the CCP is equipped to re-introduce the scheme in the city where finding parking is a nightmare for vehicle users.
CCP Mayor Uday Madkaikar however is enthusiastic about re-introducing pay parking in the city. "The decision of pay parking will be finalised in the upcoming CCP councillors meeting," said the Mayor.
When asked about what precautions CCP will take to avoid a repetition of earlier failures, Madkaikar said that earlier contractors will be blacklisted and not be allowed to participate in the tendering process.
The mayor also said that pay parking will be introduced in around 4 select busiest routes so that collection of pay parking fees will not be difficult for contractors.
The opposition councillors also have doubts in their mind. Former mayor Shubham Chodankar said that a proper study should be conducted about the frequency and number of vehicles parking along these routes before tendering the pay parking contract.
It may be recalled that the pay parking system introduced in the city by the CCP in 2016 was discontinued in 2017 after expiry of the contract awarded to Straight Deal Services. The system failed to bring any discipline to the city’s chaotic and mismanaged traffic and the CCP lost revenue to the tune of over Rs 24 lakhs due to non-payment by the contractor.
The contractor claimed that they failed to get the required revenue owing to CCP failure to demarcate parking areas with signages.
The CCP has to spend money on lawyers over a recovery suit filed against the contractor and also to defend a case before the Lokayukta filed by an activist alleging mismanagement fraud by the CCP.
The pay parking system of the Corporation has always met with controversies. After lack of response from the contractors for nearly two years, in 2016 the contract was awarded to Margao based Straight Deal Services.
As per the initial contract signed in May 2016, the contractor had to pay around Rs 5.25 lakh per month for a year to the CCP, but the contractor only paid Rs 8 lakhs while the CCP encashed another Rs 8 lakh from the security deposit kept by the contractor.
As there was no recovery of money from the contractor in 2017 the CCP gave relaxation in fees and reduced the monthly payment to only Rs 2 lakhs per month as the contractor claimed that there was enough collection from fees. However, Straight Deal Services refused to pay even the reduced sum to the CCP.
When a complaint was registered by an activist before the Lokayukta, the CCP appointed 3 advocates to defend their case. Meanwhile, the CCP has also filed a recovery petition against the contractor in the court.
