With Eid holidays coming to an end, overcharging at parking stands is back with full throttle in all parts of the city.
A senior official in the CDGL told Pakistan Today that a campaign against parking stand contractors involved in overcharging had already come to a halt, facilitating mafias to continue charging more than the fees stipulated by the CDGL.
According to a notification, the CDGL had fixed Rs 3 for cycles, Rs 5 for motorcycles and Rs 10 for cars, but parking lot contractors are charging up to Rs 30 for motorcycles and Rs 60 for cars depending on the locality.
The CDGL official said during Punjab Assembly proceedings, the parliamentary secretary concerned while responding to a question about illegal parking stands and overcharging, assured the House of taking immediate notice. “Treasury member Khawaja Imran also pointed out the illegal parking stands situated at the Civil Secretariat and said overcharging at these parking stands was a regular feature. Another treasury member Shahzadi Umer Zadi also drew attention to overcharging at Liberty Market and other parking stands in the city. Upon this, the parliamentary secretary had assured the House of taking stern action against all the contractors violating the rules,” the official added.
He said the officials concerned had made the statements to save their faces and did not take action against the issue. He said the overcharging mafia had been set scot-free to rip the people off with impunity. “The discontinuation of anti-overcharging campaign at more than 50 parking stands on 32 roads has put a bigger question mark over the Public Facility Department (PFD)’s credibility. The authority claimed to have launched a drive to grub out parking mafia involved in fleecing people but the move came to a standstill after Eid,” he added.
A PFD official, on condition of anonymity, said the campaign had to be stopped under political influence. He said the contractors who were warned about the cancellation of their contracts used their political influence to stop the campaign.
According to a survey, operators of almost all parking stands are overcharging the public. Parking lots situated in posh areas including Gulberg, Model Town, Garden Town, Faisal Town and along major roads such as Ferozpur Road, The Mall, Egertan Road, Mcleod Road, Main Boulevard Gulberg, Davis Road, Jail Road, Multan Road and Allama Iqbal Road overcharged more than the parking fee fixed by the authorities concerned.
Sources said most of the restaurants, hotels, private hospitals, schools, colleges, banks, multinationals and commercial buildings had also been taking illegal commission from contractors involved in overcharging.
