BMC geo-tagging parking lots to prevent brokerage

Bhubaneswar: To prevent illegal collection of parking fees from non designated areas and stop harassment of general public at the hands of brokers, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is going to install an all new system of Geo-tagging of parking lots in the capital city.

Sources said all the detailed information on number and name of parking areas under the jurisdiction of BMC, including holding capacities of the lots and amount of parking fees designated for a particular vehicle will be uploaded online though BhubaneswarOne website.

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“We are currently uploading all GIS information of auctioned parking lots on the website. If people want to take up parking facilities at other places they can tell us. We will fix the rates and upload all those information on our website. We are trying to finish the work before March 30,” BMC Commissioner Krishan Kumar told media persons.

Hinting strong actions against rule violators especially brokers who try to extort money as parking fees at non designated areas, the commissioner said strong action will be taken against such persons.

At present there are 76 legal parking lots in the city out of which 49 have been put on tender while parking fees is being collected from 27 areas.

Meanwhile, urban town planner Piyush Rout said if the system can be attached to e-complaint system at local police stations then it could be more effective since police can easily monitor the process.

Speaking on the effectiveness of the geo-tagging system, a local said the website is not very user friendly. Besides influential and powerful persons collect parking fees for a place as they wish even though it may not be a designated area.