Parking rackets are fleecing motorists like never before in Sector V at a time many office-goers are being forced to use private vehicles to avoid public transport amid the Covid pandemic.

Many companies in Sector V have employees working from their offices now, although the staff of several others are still working from home. Nearly all restaurants, cafes and lounges are back in business.

Most of the “parking lots” in Sector V are on main roads.

Some are authorised parking lots, leased out by the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) to private agencies to run them. But many areas, where “No Parking” boards have been put up by the Bidhannagar commissionerate, have been illegally converted into parking zones and agents collect exorbitant rates from the owners.

Bikes parked in Sector V, Salt Lake.

Two-wheelers parked in front of “No Parking” boards in Godrej Waterside, Sector V;

The parked cars constrict the carriageways, triggering bottlenecks.

The parking rates fixed by the NDITA, which looks after the civic amenities in Sector V, are Rs 10 an hour for four-wheelers and Rs 5 an hour for two-wheelers.

People who are commuting to the IT hub in private vehicles said this was far from the case.

Metro drove around Sector V on Wednesday and saw parking “agents” take anything from Rs 20 to Rs 50 an hour for cars and between Rs 10 and Rs 20 an hour for two-wheelers.

After driving through nearly all major thoroughfares and visiting at least six such “parking lots”, a board announcing the parking charges was spotted opposite the Vocational Rehabilitation Centre for the Handicapped, run by the labour ministry in EN Block. But the section where the rates were written have been covered by patches of paint.

“Since there is absolutely no way to figure out what the stipulated rates are, we are at the mercy of the agents. The rates keep increasing as the day progresses and at night, parking attendants — or the ones posing as parking attendants — charge anything between Rs 100 and Rs 300 for two hours,” said Tanima Chowdhury, who works at a Sector V-based company and is working from office twice a week.

This newspaper spotted a long line of cars parked on the pavement around the RDB Boulevard in EP-GP Block.

On Sunday night, Soham Chakraborty, a resident of EE Block who had gone for a family dinner at a restaurant opposite the RDB Boulevard, was forced to cough up Rs 100 to park his car for an hour.

“When I protested and asked the man who claimed to be a parking agent, three more men appeared. One of them was carrying a brick and threatened to shatter my windshield,” said Chakraborty.

A board with parking charges covered by paint in EN Block

Avinash Kumar, 27, a Phoolbagan resident who rides a motorbike to his Sector V workplace every day, said parking agents charge him Rs 10 per hour on working days. “On weekends, the charge can be anything,” said Kumar.

The chairman of the Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority said their directives clearly stated that boards depicting rates would have to be put up by the agencies running the parking lots. “We will take stern action against this,” said Debashis Sen.

A senior officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said they would look into the matter.