Claiming that the charges for parking vehicles at the Amar Shaheed Sukhdev inter-state bus terminal are exorbitant, residents have urged the authorities concerned to look into it. Many say they are forced to pay a higher fee even if they park their vehicles for only a few minutes.
A senior staff member overseeing the parking area noted that the bus stand previously used to operate with four distinct time slots of four hours, eight hours, 12 hours and above 12 hours. But after a private contractor took over the parking operations from Punjab Roadways in April, 2023, these have now been reduced to just two slots of 12 hours and above 12 hours, much to the chagrin of visitors who have to pay even for halting here for a minute.
Earlier, as per the revised rates in July 2016, the charges to park a cycle for the day was ₹2 which has now beein hiked to ₹4. For parking two-wheelers for 12 hours, the charges were ₹10 which is now ₹17. For the whole day (two-wheelers), it was ₹20 which is now ₹35.
Similarly, the rate for four-wheeler was ₹20 for 12 hours which has now been increased to ₹35 whereas for the day, it was ₹40 which has now raised to ₹71. For every ferry, the rates for autorickshaw used to be ₹10 which is now ₹18.
An autorickshaw driver, Harjeet Singh, mentioned that though the rate is ₹18, the parking attendants take ₹20 citing lack of change, which further increases his expenses to pick and drop passengers from bus stand premises.
Kunwar Singh, a visitor who had come to drop off his wife, shared his frustration, stating,”I paid ₹36 for parking my car just for 10 minutes. There should be separate pathways for people who are only here to see off their family members.”
Another visitor said the authorities concerned should look into the functioning of the parking operator.
Acknowledging the issue, a parking staff member said it is difficult to make a separate note for visitors using the parking lot for long hours. Hence, they charge them according to the allocated time slots.
Navraj Batish, general manager, Punjab Roadways, said the revised charges were not in his notice. “I will ask the officials concerned to look into the matter,” he added.