Parking at pedestrian plaza in T Nagar is no longer free

According to a Chennai Corporation official, the parking management system was started in the city in December on atrial basis.

“Presently, we are collecting parking charges in the pedestrian plaza and some roads in Purasaiwalkam. We are analysing the performance of mobile phone application developed for the project. Once the glitches are rectified, on-street parking system will come into effect across the city,” the official said.

As per the records, the civic body had collected more than Rs. 6 lakh as parking charges in the pedestrian plaza alone.

On Thiyagaraya Road in the pedestrian plaza, as many as 192 cars and around 200 two-wheelers can be parked at once. Around 1,000 two-wheelers and 500 cars are being parked on the roadevery day.

The civic body, under the Smart City Mission, is implementing the on-street parking management system and had identified more than 12,000 equivalent car spaces across the city.

According to an insider in the contracted firm, out of the total estimated car spaces, around 7,600 car spaces are ready.

“Vehicle owners should use the mobile phone application to identify parking space and pay parking charges. However, we have posted personnel to assist the owners. We should only be able to implement the system once the vehicle owners become aware and entire operation become digital,” he added.

Meanwhile, the civic body had issued a notice to the contractor to expedite the project.

“The contractor is slowing the project. He should have completed 5,000 car spaces, but had only readied to expedite the to project, we will terminate the contract as per the condition,” a senior official said.