Ranchi Municopal Corporation on Tuesday decided that the slashed parking fares will become effective from next month, and the state urban development sanctioned Rs 10 crore for filling up potholes and resurfacing of four smart roads in the state capital ahead of Durga Puja.

The traffic coordination committee of the civic body also decided to terminate contracts of all 25 parking bays.

The decision was taken during an hour-long meeting of the committee attended by deputy mayor Sanjeev Vijayvargiya, additional municipal commissioner Girija Shankar Prasad, RMC city manager Sourabh Kumar Verma and seven ward councillors.

“Around two months back the RMC board had taken a decision to slash the parking fees for two-wheelers and four-wheelers but it could not be implemented as municipal commissioner Manoj Kumar wanted the decision to be confirmed by the traffic coordination committee,” said Sunil Yadav who represents ward No. 20. “Currently, for two-wheelers Rs 10 is charged whereas for four-wheelers people have to pay Rs 40. The fees have been slashed by half. The new fees will be effective from October 1.”

City manager Verma said the committee decided to terminate the parking lot contracts. “Fresh tender would be floated and till the contracts are awarded the RMC will take over parking-fee collection work,” he said. “In March RMC had awarded parking bay contracts for a period of eight months. They will stand terminated on September 30. Contractors who had paid money to the RMC to get the contracts will be refunded the remaining amount.”

Verma also said that from October 1 two-wheelers will have to pay Rs 5 and cars will have to pay Rs 20 as parking fees for three hours.

Smart roads

Urban development secretary Ajoy Kumar Singh reviewed work of the smart roads and the Ratu-Harmu flyover project on Tuesday.

“The department has sanctioned Rs 10 crore for filling up potholes and resurfacing damaged patches of the four smart roads ahead of the festive period,” he said. “The private firms concerned should undertake the repair work at the earliest so that people do not face problems in commuting along the roads during the festive period.”

Of the Rs 10 crore, nearly Rs 59 lakh will be spent on resurfacing 850m of the smart road between Birsa Chowk and Airport Road and Rs 3.45 crore on resurfacing and filling of potholes on the 4.85km smart road between Birsa Chowk and Raj Bhavan. Another Rs 1.87 crore will go in resurfacing the 2.88km smart road between Raj Bhavan and Kantatoli Chowk, and Rs 3.93 crore will be spent on the 7.1km stretch between Raj Bhavan and Booty Mor.

Singh, who is also chairman of Jharkhand Urban Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Juidco), asked Juidco to monitor the progress every fortnight.

The Birsa Chowk-Airport stretch is being built by Mini Axle of Ranchi for Rs 42.52 crore. The Raj Bhavan-Birsa Chowk stretch, costing Rs 162.7 crore, and the Raj Bhavan-Kantatoli Chowk stretch, costing Rs 92.99 crore, are being built by Chattisgarh-based Amar Infrastructure. The Raj Bhavan-Booty Mor stretch is being built by RKS Construction for Rs 188-crore.

Singh also directed Juidco to get the detailed project report of the Harmu flyover sanctioned at the earliest.