Hyderabad: Several densely populated areas and city suburbs have become haven for unauthorised private parking lots. Most of these spaces have been taken on empty land either on lease or rent. At a rough estimate, there are around 480 private parking lots and auto garages in the city and its suburbs,
Most of these are unauthorised as they are without any prior approval of the local police and none of them enter ID cards of customers who park their vehicles. Even more ironic is that hardly any of them have CCTV cameras.
During an investigation by Deccan Chronicle, it was found that most of the land owners in the suburbs collect hefty rents from those renting the space for parking lots. Incidentally, over 32 open lands that have been encroached by anti-social elements or in litigation have been given on rent.
Sources disclosed that over 70 two-wheelers and 26 cars remain unclaimed for several months in such self-manned private parking places and garages.
Manoj Tiwari, a watchman, who is in-charge of an auto garage in Autonagar, said, “We charge ₹60 for a bike and ₹200 for a car for 12 hours and ₹4,500 per month. It is an excellent business. The land owner, who lives abroad, recently sent me money to build a compound wall. Once I built the wall and a gate, local residents and office employees convinced me to allow them to park their vehicles on reasonable charges. Every month I send around ₹90,000 to my owner and keep ₹40,000 plus for myself.”
Another auto garage in-charge, Mohammed Hashim from Langar Houz, said that some auto garages in Mangalhat, Chandrayangutta, Nagole, Saroornagar, Gachibowli and other areas have vehicles parked for several months and have not been claimed.
The landowners and managers are scared to inform the police as they are operating without permission from the municipal authorities, Hashim said.
A parking place should collect a copy of the ID card, note the vehicle numbers and entry and exit times. They should also give a receipt mentioning the date, time and vehicle registration number. None of these are complied with by the unauthorised parking lots. This has made it easy for criminals to dump their vehicles after committing crimes.
If police conduct raids on these unauthorised parking yards they will find many more abandoned vehicles or those used for committing offences, said G. Raghava Rao, a cab driver.
A police officer said, “We urge the parking lot in-charge to inform us about any suspicious vehicle or person. It is their responsibility to note down particulars of vehicles and owners. They should install CCTV cameras. We will be taking serious action if they fail to inform the local police. If they fail to follow norms, they are liable to be prosecuted.”
