Chandigarh: Mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla to call councillors' meet over new ‘Smart Parking' plan

Nearly three months after the Chandigarh MC House scrapped the 'Smart Parking' project, mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla is set to call an all-councillor meeting to run past the project's revised blueprint before tabling it in the General House on June 27. Chandigarh currently has 89 paid parking lots, being run by MC, on around 5.22 lakh square metre area, which can house 16,030 equivalent car spaces. (HT File)
The mayor said the parking committee, headed by councillor Saurabh Joshi, has already finalised the terms and conditions of the project, and included it in the request for proposal (RFP). 'But before we take it to the House, we want all councillors to give their feedback and suggestions so that it can be added in the final draft. We will call the all-councillor meet on Tuesday or Wednesday,' said Babla.
Officials said the revamped project will have a vehicle-stay tracking system, 'pink parking zones' for women, internet connectivity for real-time parking management, option of pre-booking paid parking slots, and pre-paid parking cards. The software support for these systems is proposed to come from the Society for Promotion of IT in Chandigarh (SPIC). Additionally, there have been deliberations on data protection protocols, revenue-sharing models, inclusion of GST and stamp duties, and a new fee structure.
Notably, on April 27, the House had approved a hike in parking rates, which will come into effect once the smart system is rolled out. According to the new structure, parking will remain free for the first 15 minutes at all 89 MC-managed lots — a move aimed at easing quick-turnaround visits and improving vehicle circulation. For longer durations, four-wheelers will be charged ₹ 20 for up to four hours, up from the current ₹ 14. Two-wheeler users will pay ₹ 10, a rise from ₹ 7. Premium rates of ₹ 85 for the first four hours have been proposed for high-traffic commercial hubs such as Elante Mall, Fun Republic, and Piccadily Square, making them the most expensive parking spots in the city.
All-councillor meets, a flop-show in past
This is not the first time that Babla is calling an all-councillor meeting. The meetings, held in the past, to either discuss agenda for governor meeting or for allocation of ward development funds, have remained a flop show, with the Opposition parties – Congress and Aam Aadmi Party – either boycotting it or walking out after clashes with MC officials. In the 35-member House, the Bharatiya Janata Party has the majority, with 16 councillors, followed by the Aam Aadmi Party with 13 councillors and six of the Congress.
House had rejected project over 'flawed' tender conditions
Originally conceived in August 2022, the Smart Parking project aimed to introduce a FASTag-enabled parking system across all parking lots in Chandigarh. In July 2023, MC House had decided on new rates to be implemented after the project's rollout. But the project remained on paper and tenders could not be finalised.
But after years of delay, the much-anticipated smart-parking project was rejected by the House in March this year, citing flawed tender conditions, and councillors had called for a fresh blueprint with revised rates and conditions. The MC had said the rates proposed in the old project proposal, when combined with GST, result in impractical amounts, making payments inconvenient for residents. In the new proposal now, MC has rounded the figures off for easier transactions.
Chandigarh currently has 89 paid parking lots, being run by MC, on around 5.22 lakh square metre area, which can house 16,030 equivalent car spaces (ECS). Though these were earlier managed by private firms, the civic body started operating 73 out of the 89 parking lots since February last year after the private contractors running it were found to be involved in a multi-crore scam. The remaining parking lots are presently running free-of-cost due to MC's limited manpower. In the absence of a proper parking management system, vehicles can often be seen parked haphazardly. The MC earns approximately ₹ 1 crore every month from the 73 parking lots in the city, which is higher than the average when private firms used to run the lots.

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