Posers raised over where parking fees go
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 22 2012: A strong suspicion has been raised that a large portion of the money collected as parking fees from Khwairamband Keithel and other areas of Imphal City remain unaccounted.

A reliable source informed that parking fees collected from Khwairamband Keithel and surrounding areas remain unaccounted though it has been one of the major sources of revenue for Imphal Municipal Council for the past many years.

There are around 15 parking lots within Imphal city.

But the money collected from these parking lots cannot be calculated exactly because neither the IMC Councillors nor police nor Government officials are sincere.

On account of insincerity on the part of all concerned, parking fees cannot be collected up to the expected level.

In the meantime, the condition of IMC has been growing from bad to worse because of lack of financial discipline and whimsical nature in running the Council.

As a part of the Government's efforts to enable IMC collect more revenue and streamline its administration, the Traffic Regulation and Parking Committee (TRPC) was set up with the Principal Secretary (Transport) as Chairman.

A parking lot in Imphal

After the IMC was put under suspension for sometime, the State Government sent Special Administrator, Account Officer and Revenue Officer on deputation but there was little change in the administration of IMC.

Presently, IMC is unable to pay salaries to its employees for 25 months because of its abject failure to mobilise resources.

Notably, TRPC was entrusted to the police with the primary objective of collecting full revenue from the parking lots.

When TRPC was entrusted to police, it was agreed that 90 per cent of the revenue collected from parking lots should be deposited with IMC while police should keep the remaining 10 per cent for management.

In accordance to the agreement, police took control of the parking lots and collected parking fees.

After deducting 10 per cent from the revenue earned from the 15 parking lots, Imphal West DSP (Traffic) deposited Rs 4500 in the IMC's account number 1092917741 for the month of October last year.

The amounts deposited in the IMC's account for the months of November and December last year were Rs 4500 each.

For April this year, it was Rs 24,750 .

All these monthly collections were deposited in the IMC's account in May this year.

But many people are questioning whether the monthly collections deposited in the IMC's account are compatible with the average number of vehicles parked at the 15 parking lots on daily basis.

Meanwhile, the parking lots of Paona Keithel, Thangal Keithel and MG Avenue were handed over back to IMC on July 14 this year.

Since then, the IMC has been collecting Rs 4000 to Rs 4200 from these three parking lots as parking fees.

But again it needs closer examination and check whether these amounts are compatible to the numbers of vehicles parked at these three busy parking lots on daily basis.