Car parking fee hiked across KMC areas

Kolkata: Car parking fees under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has gone up from Saturday. The new parking fee for four-wheelers has doubled to Rs 20 an hour for the first two hours. The old rate was Rs 10 an hour from 7 am to 10 pm.

“The new parking rate is graded which is in complete deviation from the old rates that was uniform. According to the new rates, the car parking fee is Rs 40 an hour from the third till the fifth hour. After that, the rate is Rs 100 an hour,” a senior official of the Parking department of KMC said.

In case of two wheelers, the rates will be Rs 10 per hour for the first two hours, Rs 20 per hour from third to the 5th hour and Rs 50 per hour beyond the 5th hour. “We have already distributed e- pos (point of sales) machines for swiping of debit and credit cards for collecting parking fees in majority of the parking lots in the city.

In the parking bays, where the e-pos machines are still to reach, fees will be collected in cash. But the enhanced rates will be applicable in all the parking lots,” Debasish Kumar, Member Mayor in Council (Parking) said.

Parking agencies had flagged off the issue of higher parking rates for places like Kolkata Railway Station, Howrah Station, Kolkata Airport where Rs 40, Rs 30 and Rs 100 per hour respectively were being charged against KMC charging only Rs 10 an hour.

The civic body had also received complaints of illegal parking beyond the allotted parking lots in the city for earning extra bucks.

“The move will not only increase the revenue of KMC but most importantly, the higher rates, particularly for longer duration parking will discourage people from bringing their cars into the city. People will be forced to avail themselves of public transport and this will help in curbing air pollution,” the official added.