Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to shift several parking facilities from departmental management to a contract-based system to curb unauthorised fee collection.
As part of the move, eight parking lots have been removed from the list of departmentally operated sites and will now be managed by private contractors. The BMC’s parking cell has floated tenders for over 25 parking locations this month, marking a significant shift in how parking services are administered in the city.
Currently, departmental fee collection is underway at key spots such as Indian Coffee House (Link Road No. 1), Bittan Market, 10 Number Market, MP Nagar, District Court campus, Boat Club, Sair Sapata and Vijay Stambh etc.
Irregularities trigger action
Earlier, BMC collected parking fees departmentally at 16 locations through staff deployed by zonal offices. However, multiple complaints surfaced that employees were underreporting vehicle numbers while collecting fees, leading to revenue losses. Following these revelations, municipal commissioner Sanskruti Jain took note of the issue and suspended one official. Despite this, discrepancies reportedly continued, prompting further intervention.
Eight parking lots to be outsourced
The corporation has identified eight locations, primarily in MP Nagar Zone 2, for outsourcing. These include areas near Mansarovar Complex, the old RTO office, Pragati Petrol Pump, Sargam Cinema, Patidar Studio and K Plaza. Tenders for these sites have already been issued.
Focus on transparency
Additional municipal commissioner Anju Arun Kumar initiated the process to outsource parking operations to ensure transparency and accountability. Officials believe that involving private operators with clear contractual obligations will bring greater efficiency and accountability to the city’s parking system.
