Lahore’s parking nightmare continues

Illegal private stands once again start fleecing motorists

LAHORE: In the absence of an efficient regulatory regime, illegal parking stands have mushroomed in almost every market and commercial area of the metropolis. In several busy markets and shopping malls, people have also established private stands and are charging the exorbitantly high parking fee of Rs100 per trip.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on Thursday, Murtaza Syed, a local, highlighted that with the change of government and removal of local government system, criminals have established dozens of illegal parking stands in busy commercial areas of the city. “There is no government agency available to check or regulate them,” he added.

Citing the example of the biggest IT and commuter hub of the city – near Hafeez Centre – he indicated that private contractors are fleecing the public in broad daylight. Earlier, they were charging citizens Rs50 per hour and now they have imposed a flat rate of Rs100 because no government department is available to regulate parking services in the provincial capital.

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Another citizen, Umar Ali, pointed out that a new trend of big shopping malls has gained popularity. However, the management of these huge multi-storey commercial complexes is not different from illegal parking contractors. The government has notified Rs30 as parking fee, but most of these malls are charging Rs50 per hour from their customers.

During the previous regime of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said, the government had introduced electronic parking tickets through the Lahore Parking Company (LPC). However, with the change of government, the system was rolled back.

“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) government scrapped the company without making any alternate arrangements,” he lamented.

A traders’ leader of Hall Road, Amin Mazhar Butt, said parking is one of the biggest issues in the provincial capital. Giving the example of business places, he pointed out that traders of Hall Road and Mall Road are demanding that the government build a parking plaza to solve traffic and parking problems that have persisted for the last decade.

“Dozens of meetings have been held for the construction of a parking plaza on Hall Road,” he said. He pointed out that the former mayor, in a meeting, highlighted that the local government had made partial payment to the Liquidation Board to acquire land for parking plazas, but the project remains in the doldrums.

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Another local, Muhammad Ali from Anarkali Bazaar, also made similar remarks and pointed out that they also had several meetings with government departments to solve parking problems of the historic market but in vain. “Though it is ethically wrong, most shopkeepers and customers have to find parking space at Mayo Hospital since there is no proper parking arrangement in Anarkali Bazaar. Local government and city traffic police have imposed restrictions on parking around the park in Nilla Gumbad Chowk,” he said.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, an official of the LPC said with the change of the government and ongoing accountability drive, the company has been almost defunct. Recently, the company sacked around 150 employees on various charges, which further demoralised the remaining staff members.

Recently, Lahore Division Commissioner ordered the deployment of Municipal Corporation Lahore (MCL) enforcement inspectors to launch a campaign against illegal parking stands, but these ad hoc measures failed time and again to make any positive change.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2019.