Now, pay double to park in railway stations

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The railways have increased parking fees by more than double from July 1 even as they extended the contract period of existing contractors in many centres without floating fresh tenders.

Two-wheelers now have to dole out a minimum of Rs 5 to park their vehicles instead of the earlier Rs 2, wh-ile four-wheelers will have to pay Rs 10 instead of Rs 5.

“The railway board has affected a hike of up to 70 per cent in the parking fees category and the order in this regard has been sent to contractors whose contract period was extended,” a senior official said.

But he refuted charges that there was no transparency claiming that the “railways are in the process of tendering the work.

In many centres like Thiruvananthapu-ram, the contract period has just got over and the tendering process is on. But in stations where the contractor is already mee-ting our expected revenues, we’ve extended the period.”

As per the revised rates, a commuter has to pay Rs 15 to park his two-wheeler for a day instead of the earlier Rs 7 and Rs 200 (earlier Rs 100) for parking the vehicle for a month.

This paper in its report on April 22 had brought to light how exorbitant charges were being levied from hapless commuters in the name of parking fees in centres like Ernak-ulam Junction.

The contractor has been charging Rs 10 for quite a while even from those who want to park their two-wheelers for half-an-hour. A vigilance squad conducted a surprise check last week following the report.

“The fee hike would surely affect commuters. a time. I think the amount does not reach the contra-ctor. The revenue would increase once such reven-ue leaks are prevented,” said Girish R., a Techno-park employee.