Bhubaneswar: The civic body is finding it difficult to get hold of an agency to manage parking in the city. Twice last year, in July and Dec, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had floated tenders to auction parking space, but none turned up to participate in the bid.This year again BMC has floated a tender for the auction of parking lots. The auction is based on the parking space available and the tentative number of vehicles to be parked along a particular stretch that is identified for parking. Usually, BMC earns more than Rs 2.5 crore from parking fees. With the civic body failing in the auction bid, it may end up losing more than Rs 1 crore in parking fee collection.“None applied for the bid twice for various reasons,” said Ajay Mohanty, BMC deputy commissioner (revenue). Since people park their vehicles in undesignated parking lots, the designated spaces would have fewer vehicles to park.“There was little enforcement to tow unauthorisedly parked vehicles. Now towing has resumed, and private agencies may show interest,” Mohanty explained.In Dec, BMC had floated a tender to auction at least 30 different stretches, including eight on Smart Janpath, for parking. The parking push was significant, with BMC receiving numerous complaints regarding erratic parking in residential areas, leading to the narrowing of lanes. However, it failed to enthuse private agencies.BMC officials said both old and new parking spaces have been included in the tender so that, once bidders participate, the contract can be signed. A thorough survey was conducted in different wards to regulate parking.“We decided to identify more stretches so that parking is regulated in several wards, considering commercial activities like hotels, educational institutes and hospitals coming up,” Mohanty added.Haphazard parking of vehicles — both two and four-wheelers —in Bhubaneswar is a persistent problem which leads to traffic congestion. Barring Janpath, where there is earmarked roadside space, flouting parking norms is common.BMC officials said they noticed that hospitals and educational institutions have limited space inside their facilities and, as per plan approval, they cannot expand. Hence, people are forced to park outside, often causing inconvenience to others. “To sort out this issue, we decided to auction spaces outside the institutions and make people pay the parking fee,” Mohanty said.
