Mayor’s parking scheme faces potholes

Mayor’s parking scheme faces potholes
Committee Set Up To Look Into Pros & Cons, But Members In The Dark
The TImes of India

Bangalore: Mayor R. Narayanaswamy has planned big: he scrapped the payand-park scheme last week, mooted parking maintenance through pole advertisement contractors and is said to have set up a committee to look into the scheme’s pros and cons.

But several questions remain unanswered: for one, the committee members are not aware of its existence. Second, his plan to garner compensatory revenue for BCC from pole ads might run into problems. For, there is a government order banning the same.

“Yes, we are aware of the ban,’’ the mayor admitted. “But, there are so many pole ads on M.G. Road, Jayanagar IV Block, Vasanthnagar, near Mount Carmel college,’’ he wondered.

Four years ago, when the seminal payand-park scheme was introduced, the city swung into action and implemented it on all roads. The pay-and-park count stood at 142 roads (with ample additions and deletions), as of January 29. While motorists and commuters heaved a sigh of relief, they also wondered — what is the alternative?

Again, the mayor had a categorical answer: “I have already set up a three-member committee of BCC commissioner Jothiramalingam, special commissioner Subash Chandra and traffic expert M.N. Sreehari to look into the the issue. They will examine the existing contract BCC has with different contractors.’’

This paper then contacted all three ‘members’, but none of them knew about such a committee!

“There are several alternatives being examined and if the government withdraws the ban on pole ads, this will work out,’’ explained a BCC source.

Commissioner K. Jothiramalingam clarified, “This proposal was not mooted by me. I will only be executing the (BCC) council decision.’’

Bursting at the seams with 25 lakh vehicles, Bangalore had 268 public parking lots. A BCC council member wanted to know, “Why has there been no action on the contractor-parking nexus?’’

BJP spokesperson S. Prakash, who lobbied for doing away with the pay-and-park scheme, alleged, “For 142 roads, there were only eight contractors, who had registered different roads in the names of their wives, brothers, sons.’’ The tender amount deposited with BCC will apparently be returned, amounting to Rs 1 crore.

Jothiramalingam explained how the scheme will continue in places where the BCC has invested. “KSRTC bus-stands are not under BCC’s purview, so citizens will have to pay. At railway stations, you will still have to pay, as with private parking lots like shopping malls and restaurants.’’

Respite from the prevalent chaos is still fuzzy. Traffic expert M.N. Sreehari reasoned that in five years, the vehicle populace will reach 35 lakh. “There is a BCC bylaw which says all buildings — even 40 X 60 structures — should have provision for parking in the blueprint stage, else they are not supposed to get clearance. There are 39,000 traffic junctions in the city and traffic police are only 1,000. How can they ensure orderly parking?’’

Meanwhile, the four multi-storeyed parking lots, are mostly vacant. Let’s wait till April 1 then.

Answers Please

Proposal: Pole ads at parking lots to garner revenue
Problem: The government order bans pole ads
Question: How will advertisers even put up something and maintain attendants at parking lots?
Postscript: BCC commissioner didn’t moot proposal, he is just implementing council’s decision.