By Our Reporter
Shillong: Car owners have always got the rough end of the stick when trying to park their vehicles in the MUDA parking lot. On Monday, a car owner parked his vehicle at the Khlieh Iewduh Parking lot, adjacent to the chicken market at 12.15 pm. He did not find any attendant while driving in to park and therefore got no parking slip.
At 1.30 pm after completing his task he went to get his vehicle but was given a parking slip of Rs 50. When he asked why he was charged such a hefty fee the parking attendants started abusing and intimidating him. The car owner’s relative an elderly lady was sitting in the car and witnessed the altercation.
Talking to this reporter, the car owner who normally lives in Delhi said, “I feel very humiliated to be treated so shabbily in my own home state. In Delhi no one roughs me up like this.”
In exasperation he told the attendants that he would lodge a complaint with the MUDA authorities. The parking attendants allegedly told him to go ahead and do it and that he could even speak to the Urban Affairs Minister for all they cared.
This is not a solitary incident. Car owners face such harassment on a daily basis but few care to report the incidents. A common feature in most parking lots is that receipts are never issued after taking the parking fees.
Some vehicle owners demand it; others just drive away. It is learnt that the MUDA parking lots are given out on lease to sundry contractors. They try to get the maximum collection in minimum time. The parking lot at Khlieh Iewduh is run by Kephas Langstieh, Myntri of the Hima Mylliem.
When this reporter contacted the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), T Lyngwa to inform him of the incident, he said he had not received any formal complaint of such misbehaviour from parking attendants. However, he said that he would summon the lessee on Tuesday and find out why such misdemeanours are taking place.
Vehicle owners feel that parking attendants should have a uniform or some kind of identification such as a name plate. Most often they are unrecognizable and change every day. Vehicle owners have also complained that at the parking lot near the Crowborough Hotel, the attendants allow auto rickshaws and taxis to park although the place has been allotted for private vehicle parking.
When this was pointed out to the parking attendant he said he allowed the auto rickshaw driver to park as he was a friend.
“The parking attendants at the parking lot in the MUDA complex at Khyndailad are better behaved and courteous but it also depends on who is on duty at a particular time,” said a vehicle owner.
Vehicle owners feel that MUDA should stipulate certain conditions on the lessees and not allow lawlessness in the name of collecting parking fees.