MAPUSA
The Mapusa Municipal Council’s pay parking facility at the taxi stand and the municipal market is back in the news and for all the wrong reasons.
Fleecing of users for parking goes unabated even as civic authorities appear helpless.
There are several allegations that the person who has bagged the contract to collect parking fees is cheating and overcharging the customers. Secondly, there are also allegations that the staff appointed to collect parking fees behave rudely with the motorists.
While tourists pay the exorbitant fees and quietly move away, residents and shopkeepers have complained about the harassment by the staff collecting the fees.
The users are forced to pay Rs 20 for parking a car against the prescribed fee of Rs 10 in the parking lot at the taxi stand as civic officials failed to check the violation carried out by the contractor.
“It’s disgusting the way the staff interacts with the locals. They misbehave with people and many times get into arguments with consumers,” said Rajendra Naik, a resident of Mapusa.
Interestingly, the MMC appears to have no control over the contractor who has been indulging in wrongdoing.
The Goa Civic and Consumer Action Network (GOACAN) which has claimed to have received several oral and written complaints against the pay parking contractor has called for the monitoring of the pay parking facility.
In a letter to the Mapusa Chief Officer, Sitaram Sawal, the GOACAN has said that although the pay parking facility is beneficial to the regular consumers visiting the market as well as the tourists visiting Mapusa and it generates revenue for the council, it is important that a monitoring mechanism is put in place so that if there are any grievances from the users or any improvements to be made then this would be helpful to the MMC.
“There is an urgent need for proper display boards to be installed so that the consumers who use the facility know the pay parking rates, timings as well as the contact mobile number and email ID to give complaints to the MMC. The present boards installed at the market and the taxi stand do not have the full information and are not in good condition,” said Roland Martins, coordinator of GOACAN.
GOACAN has also suggested that the task of monitoring the pay parking facility may be given to the Road Safety and Traffic Management Committee (RSTMC) so that it can help the MMC in its future plans for the rest of Mapusa.
