KMC parking fee collectors to stand out in new uniforms

The initiative has been taken to curtail illegal charged parking in the city

KARACHI: The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) charged parking staff will have a fresh look — sporting new red-and-yellow uniforms, with cards hanging around their necks and red KMC caps perched on their heads.

In order to curtail illicit charged parking in the city, the KMC has issued directives to all the contractors and their staff to wear proper uniforms while collecting parking fees.

Aiming to curb Karachi's 'parking mafia', newly appointed KMC charged parking director Jameel Ahmed asked the public to hand over any person found collecting parking fees without the uniform to the law enforcement agencies.

KMC has designated 44 sites for charged parking, with uniformed fee collectors already visible at Hyderi and Karimabad. According to Ahmed, the uniform system will be expanded to cover the rest of Karachi in the second half of Ramazan. Cars will be charged Rs20 and motorcycles Rs5.



When asked why areas such as Gulistan-e-Jauhar were not included in the list of designated sites, he replied that it had only been four months since he had taken charge of the department. Sources at KMC, however, said that these areas were exempted due to the law and order situation. "Our staff members receive threats when they try to collect parking fees here."

While Ahmed faced difficulties in making the new uniforms mandatory for staff members, he claimed that it was the only option to save the people from paying illegal fees to Karachi's parking mafia.

Responding to a query about the encroachments, rickshaw stands and double- and triple-parking that choke the traffic flow, he explained that they had decided that shopkeepers would be given first priority to park their vehicles, followed by the customers. "However, the rickshaw stands and encroachments are not in my ambit," he maintained. "It is the job of the police to remove them and maintain the flow of traffic."

Meanwhile, assistant commissioner Shahzeb Shaikh claimed that malls were using their designated parking areas as warehouses. "We have directed the SHOs to empty these so that cars can be parked there," he said, adding that they would strongly discourage double-parking.

He further said that a camp had been set up at Liberty Chowk near Tariq Road where the traffic police, district police, bomb disposal squad, K-Electric, Sui Southern Gas Company, KMC and district municipal corporation officials would be available to deal with any problems during the month of Ramazan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2015.