Because of the Smart City works, the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) had temporarily stopped collecting pay parking fees from 23rd March till 31st May, the promised date when the city would be ready. But nothing of this sort happened while pay parking has been enthusiastically resumed under the pretext that several roads have been readied. A visitor to Panaji would notice that many major roads are still dug up and works are on-going, vehicles are driven in the opposite directions along one-way roads, no signages to help motorists, absence of traffic wardens and cops to monitor the traffic, no proper or absence of safety measures around the dug-up sites etc.
One is puzzled as to why the CCP is in a tearing hurry to resume pay parking when the infrastructure is still bad, unsafe and found wanting. The tariff boards are mutilated so that the actual charges are unknown to motorists, some of the attendants are uncouth and ill-mannered. The CCP needs to set right the above issues before commencement of parking charges. The amount that the CCP gets from the pay parking contractors is much less than the years of pending sum of crores of rupees from vendors, shops, offices and houses in Panaji. The priority should be to collect the unpaid dues rather than harassing motorists by re-introducing the pay parking when there are hardly much places to conveniently park the vehicles in Panaji.
