Two Wheeler parking at the Secunderabad Railway Station is turning out to be a costlier affair than the train journey you take from the station. Yes, this is true – you can experience the bomb costing of Rs. 500 to park your vehicle.
With the GST regime taking effect last year, under the pretext of which contractors charge an additional 18 per cent and fix the rate themselves, parking even a two-wheeler at the station, say for 24 hours, will cost you a whopping Rs 425.
The fee shoots up by Rs 18 for every one hour. Passengers complain that they are shelling out more for parking fee than for the train ticket.
“I parked my two-wheeler at the parking lot here and boarded a train to Khammam. When I returned the next day, I was shocked when they said I would have to pay Rs 500. My train journey cost me only Rs 60,” said Santosh Kumar.
When contacted, South Central Railway (SCR) officials said the Secunderabad station was situated in a prime locality and also due to lack of space in and around, the parking fee was ‘a bit high’.
The parking fee for two-wheelers — which used to be a minimum of Rs 12 — went up to Rs 18 for the first one hour after the railway authorities assigned the parking lot to a new contractor last year. The current contract period is till April, 2021.
Multilevel parking complex to end woes?
With inadequate parking space, passengers visiting the Secunderabad Railway Station have been facing hardships at the entry resulting in traffic jams.
To decongest the area and to avoid haphazard parking, apart from making the existing parking area available for more vehicles, the Railways had agreed to allocate 15 guntas of open land for the construction of a multilevel parking complex between Sri Ganesh Temple and the station.
Last year, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal promised to take necessary steps to hand over the land to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for the complex. However, nothing much has progressed ever since. #KhabarLive
