Bengaluru: Six years after BBMP launched a pay-and-park facility in the central business district (CBD), the system is literally in a shambles. It is erratic, functioning on some days and some roads but unresponsive on other days and other roads.On MG Road, a parking ticket vending machine has been repurposed into a showcase of sorts, with a roadside vendor using it for displaying his ware . On Residency Road nearby, the parking system’s machine does not accept cash or UPI payments, leaving motorists worried whether their vehicles would be towed away if they park them there. The centralized pay-and-park facility was launched on nine roads in 2018 and the contract was awarded to Central Parking System (CPS), a city-based agency, in August of that year. The parking system worked smoothly initially and trouble began after the Covid-19 pandemic. BBMP did not receive payments from the agency at Rs 8 lakh per road per month from April 2021 onwards. Following the agency’s request, Palike had reduced the fees to Rs 28 lakh per road per year for managing nine roads between the years October 2020 and May 2021.According to the contract between BBMP and CPS, the latter should charge two-wheelers Rs 15 and four-wheelers Rs 30 on an hourly basis. Kisore B, a regular user of the pay-and-park ticket system and employed at a retail store on MG Road, said he used to pay Rs 15 per hour to park his two-wheeler. However, for the past eight months, he has been parking free of cost due to the lack of monitoring and attendants.In Dec last year, BBMP issued a notice to CPS, demanding immediate payment of Rs 2.6 crore. “It is observed that you have not paid any fees in the last four years. A notice was issued in November 2023, but there was no response. Action will be taken if payment is not made within 7 days,” the notice read. MT Balaji, BBMP’s executive engineer, who issued the notice, mentioned that CPS responded, claiming to have paid around Rs 27 lakh. “CPS has paid us only Rs 27 lakh, while they owe us much more than that, about Rs 7-8 lakh monthly. We have asked them to clear the balance, and then we will call for new tenders,” Balaji said. However, N Sathyanarayanan, founder of CPS, was unavailable for comments.
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