PCB doubles charges for pay-and-park
Sakaal Times: Cutting across the spectrum, political parties in Pune Cantonment have decried the Pune Cantonment Board’s (PCB) decision of 100 per cent hike in pay-and-park charges as arbitrary and undemocratic.
Interestingly, elected members of the board passed an unanimous resolution to this effect favouring revision of rates at an ordinary board meeting held on October 21. However, documents in the possession of Sakaal Times reveal that except for the Board President Brigadier Rajbir Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr D K Malik and Brigadier P Singh ( Ex-Officio Member) not a single nominated member from the board was present when the resolution was passed by elected members, ratifying the hike.
“The administration has not taken the decision on its own to revise the rates. It was the elected members who passed the resolution seeking revision of rates and we just implemented the decision,” PCB Chief Revenue Superintendent (CRS) Chitra Gokhale told Sakaal Times on Wednesday.
Defending the resolution, Board Vice President Anju Mathurawala said that the rates were hiked by the board keeping in mind suggestions given by the traffic police to control the increasing traffic movement in and around M G Road, East Street and other busy lanes.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Cantonment block president Popat Gaikwad, who has submitted a note on behalf of the party against the decision, said, “Our party is against this decision as it is affecting a large number of people working in the area. Our delegation will meet the board president and CEO and submit a petition explaining fallout of the resolution on common people.”
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Cantonment unit chief Dilip Giramkar said, “The board should have re-invited tenders if they wanted to increase charges.”
MNS vice president Ashish Karade maintained that reasons cited by the elected members to increase the rates were flimsy. The resolution does not specify any clear reasons for the increase of rates other than a reference in official records that rates were hiked in response to the suggestions made by traffic police to restrict frequent movement and parking of vehicles in the Cantonment area.
Despite repeated attempts, the board president and the CEO could not be reached for their comments.
EXORBITANT
According to the resolution passed by the PCB, the parking fee for the first four hours for four-wheelers was raised to Rs 10 from Rs 5, while the full day ticket was increased to Rs 20. Similarly, parking charges for two-wheelers were doubled to Rs 4 and Rs 8
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