Title - Forum flays parking fee hike at railway station

Jammu : Expressing concern over the recent hike in parking charges at the Jammu railway station, the Citizens Forum today alleged there was a nexus between the police and parking contractors.Parking charges were increased from Rs 20 to Rs 30 per vehicle per visit.The forum said this was causing considerable inconvenience to passengers who were forced to pay parking fee even if they would just come by to drop someone there.The forum held a meeting here that was chaired by its president RK Chadda. He alleged the nexus was aimed at benefiting the parking contractors. He said the railway authorities were trying to erect a divider at a small stretch of the road up to the entry point of the main platform building which again was causing hardships to passengers.“The passengers are facing problems, particularly the elderly ones and those with some disabilities as they need to walk and climb stairs with luggage to a long distance,” Chadda said.He said that in response to a PIL filed by the forum for upgrading and modernisation of the railway station, the J&K High Court had constituted a committee to look into the matter.The forum said the Inspector General (IG) of Police had given written assurance to the high court last year that a divider would be laid at the stretch of the road up to the entry point but the same had not been raised till date.

The forum president further alleged the Divisional Traffic Manager (DTM) was not allowing the laying down of the divider in a bid to benefit the parking contractor.

He criticised the DTM for arbitrarily allowing the contractor to increase the parking charges even if a vehicle only passed through the parking lot to drop passengers.