Fake parking tickets at rly stations

Fake parking tickets at rly stations
Double Check Parking Coupons; You Could End Up Paying A Lot More Than You Should
The Times of India

Bangalore: The next time you park your vehicle at the railway station, double check the parking coupon. For it could be the fake one, which means you could end up shelling out extra.

A fake parking ticket racket is thriving at the city and Cantonment railway stations, with parking contractors making a fast buck. The fake car parking coupons are not only over-priced at Rs 10, but they are also valid only for an hour. The authentic railway coupons are priced at Rs 5 and valid for four hours!

The fake ticket reads: “Bangalore railway car parking stand’’ for both the stations, while the authentic ones read “South Western Railway Bangalore City’’ and “South Western Railway Cantonment.’’

The tickets also do not have the parking timings printed, which is a must as per the railway regulations.
With around 2 lakh passengers coming to these two railway stations every day, the people who park vehicles are usually those who have either come to drop or receive their family members and relatives.

“Most of us are ignorant about the parking rates as it is not printed on the tickets. Arguing with the boys who collect the parking fee is useless as they are too rude,’’ said Vishal Mehta, an MBA student who was at the station to receive his parents.

“It did come to my notice, as I happen to frequent the station quite often, two weeks back. I was asked for different prices every time I parked my car but was not aware what was going on,’’ said Rajendra Chordia, a businessman.

Taking advantage of the situation, the visitors are asked to pay on an hourly basis, when there is no such concept.
“The sole aim of introducing the system of parking fee at railway stations was to make sure that only visitors use the facility,’’ said South Western Railway divisional commercial manager Anwar Hussain.

The system has gone unchecked to such an extent that there has been an instance at the Cantonment railway station when a person was asked to purchase two parking tickets on the same day when he moved his vehicle from the backside to the entrance of the station!

The people manning the parking lot however, have an alibi. “I was out of town last week and maybe my helper, by mistake, picked up the wrong bundle of tickets from the printer.’’

THE CONTRACT RULES
Procedure for awarding parking contract
Once in every three years, the railway authorities invite tenders for the parking space.

The contractor who quotes the maximum price gets the lot. The tickets are printed by the contractor, who has to include parking timings, stamp of the railways, He has to compulsorily print the price for all types of vehicles in the parking coupon.

ACTION
What the railways can do
“We can levy a fine of Rs 5,000 and even cancel the tender if the complaints continue to flow. Last year, we cancelled the tender twice as the contractors had violated the rules.’’