the goan I network
MARGAO
The parking of yellow number-plated rental bikes around the Margao Municipal building has come back to haunt the city fathers and municipal babus alike on Gandhi Jayanti, with Chairperson Babita Prabhudesai and Chief Officer Sidhivinayak Naik mulling action, including towing of the two-wheelers.
The Chief Officer went a step further and warned that the municipality will write to the RTO to take cognizance of the parking of these two-wheelers around the municipal building and move for cancellation of their licenses.
That the bikes parked around the iconic municipal building pose nuisance to the visitors to the civic body as well as the municipal staff came to the fore on Tuesday when the city fathers along with the officials had all assembled near the building to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti with a cleanliness programme, only to find many of the scooters for rent parked in the municipal property around the building.
What agitated the Chairperson and the Chief Officer the most was that the bikes had availed most of the parking around the building, leaving no space for the staff and the other visitors for their vehicles. “Parking of the yellow number plate bikes around the MMC building is not acceptable at all, more so when the parking lot for two-wheelers is meant for parking for citizens visiting the municipality,” Babita told the media.
She said that strict action will be initiated against the unscrupulous operators of the rent-a-bike, saying they cannot hold the municipality or the citizens at large to ransom for their private business. “The space around the MMC is not meant for parking of rent-a-bikes. The operators should know this,” she said, adding that the municipality will immediately write to the traffic police and the RTO to initiate action against these operators.
Chief Officer Sidhivinayak Naik was clear in his comments, saying that the rent-a-bike operators have no business to park their
vehicles around the municipal building.
“We will take whatever action is possible under the rules. The RTO will be asked to go in for cancellation of their licenses,” he warned.
This is not the first time that the MMC has mulled action against the rent-a-bike operators. Successive chairpersons and chief officers in the past promised action against the operators, but there’s not stop to the rent-a-bike business carried out from around the MMC building premises.
