Parking rackets thrive in all three sectors of Salt Lake, particularly near township hotpots such as City Centre, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC) and most of Sector V.
Motorists allege that they are being fleeced by parking touts who neither have any identification cards nor any valid documents issued by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Most parking zones in Salt Lake are located on main roads or empty plots in the township. Some are these are authorised parking lots, leased out by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to private agencies.
In many places, where “No Parking” boards had been set up by the Bidhannagar Commissionerate, now “Fee Parking Zone” boards have allegedly been put up to convert them into illegal parking zones where parking touts collect exorbitant charges from residents as well as visitors to Salt Lake.
A senior BMC official said the parking rates fixed by the civic body are Rs 20 an hour for a four-wheeler and Rs 10 per hour for two-wheelers.
Across Kolkata, the parking rates fixed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation stand at Rs 10 an hour for cars and Rs 5 an hour for two-wheelers between 7am and 10pm.
In several places in Salt Lake, such as the parking lots close to City Centre, touts charge anything between Rs 30 and 40 an hour. The charges go up as the evening sets in.
On Thursday afternoon and Friday evening, The Telegraph drove around the township and saw a series of cars parked right in the middle of the road near City Centre.
The parked cars reduced the carriageway to a quarter. Two men were seen collecting parking fees from motorists.
None of the two had parking uniforms on. They could not produce any identity cards issued by the organisation they worked for.
The situation was similar in several other places including, a stretch of road near the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre in Salt Lake’s Sector III and near AMRI hospital Salt Lake.
On Friday evening The Telegraph saw parking “agents” charging anything between Rs 20 and Rs 50 an hour for cars and between Rs 10 and Rs 20 an hour for two-wheelers.
After driving through at least six such “parking lots” in Salt Lake, The Telegraph failed to spot a single board announcing the stipulated parking rates fixed by the BMC.
Sector V fares no better.
BMC mayor Krishna Chakraborty did not take calls or respond to text messages.
A senior official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said they were “aware” of such rackets but the “political will” to take action was lacking.
“We haven’t received any direction to take any action. No specific complaint has landed up with us,” said the official.
A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed over illegal parking in the BMC area a few months back.
“We will look into this. However, no specific complaint has landed up with us yet,” said Gaurav Sharma, the police commissioner of Bidhannagar.