Amritsar, January 16 Common man is burdened with the unfair charges at parking spaces, especially on the premises of government offices, during the ongoing phase of demonetisation. Parking contractors are not following set guidelines. They are breaking norms without any fear of the district administration, which too looks non-serious on the issue. The charges of an OPD receipt of any government hospital in Amritsar are Rs 10, but patients or their kin have to pay Rs 20 as parking fee. People park their vehicles on roads to avoid paying high parking fee. It leads to traffic congestion, besides causing frequent jams. Besides the parking fee, the public is annoyed with behaviour of contractors’ henchmen. They behave rudely in case people object to high parking charges. Meanwhile, contractors are violating norms by using space outside the district court and Deputy Commissioner’s office for parking. No one is taking any action against them. Parking lot on road is against norms. Vijay Kumar, a resident of the Majitha road, said, “I feel that administration has given a free hand to contractors for deciding parking rates. It is totally wrong. Any violation by parking contractors must checked by the department concerned.” Manbir Singh, a resident of Hall Bazaar, said, “There is an urgent need to reduce parking rates here. It will solve the problem of wrong parking to a large extent.” Manju, a resident of Court Road, said the administration should create more parking lots across the city. She said although a plan was drafted for new parking at several places in the city, it had remained on papers till now. She said the administration should stop charging parking fee in government offices. Staff should be deputed by the administration for managing parking in government offices instead of leasing out the space to any contractor, she added.

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