Extra fee collected for entry - Touts rip off flower show visitors

Extra fee collected for entry - Touts rip off flower show visitors
BY SHASHIPRASAD S.M.
BENGALURU







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‘ I later learnt that the park- ‘ ing fee cov- ered the entry charge
Visitors to the Lal bagh flower show on Saturday were ripped off by touts who demanded that they pay an extra entry charge apart from the car parking fee.

The horticulture department stipulated that parking fee for a four-wheeler would include the entry charge for all the occupants of the vehicle, but visitors complained people posing as staff were demanding money for each of the passengers.

The car parking/entry fee for the flower show is Rs 150 (for small cars), Rs 200 (for SUVs and larger vehicles) on weekdays and Rs 200 for all types of fourwheelers on weekends, irrespective of the number of passengers in the vehicles.

“I was not aware that the parking fee for four-wheelers included the entry fee also. I ended up paying Rs 60 extra for myself and my wife. I later learnt that the parking fee covered the entry charge,” one visitor said.

“Some visitors did complain to us that people at the gates were collecting extra money for passengers inside the cars after collecting the car parking fee. The visitors said they were even reselling used tickets,” said a traffic police officer deployed at Lalbagh. “We checked but did not find anybody collecting an extra fee for entry,” he added.

The official in charge of collecting the parking fee claimed that the visitors’ allegations were baseless. “Cars with seating capacity of more than four were asked to pay Rs 200, as is clearly indicated on the board. This may have caused confusion and led visitors to believe that they has been asked to pay extra,” he said.

The police officer said there were around 4,000 vehicles at the show on Saturday and because there is just a single entry point to issue tickets for four-wheelers, there was traffic jam for some time.