High parking rates at Secunderabad railway station pique passengers

A ‘to and fro’ ticket from Secunderabad to Vijayawada is `240 but the car parking fee for 24 hours is `340

​Hyderabad: The soaring parking fee at Secunderabad railway station is costing the passengers more price than a rail ticket. Passengers boarding a train from Secunderabad are facing the brunt of heavy parking fee as in many cases the rail ticket is far cheaper than the parking fees.

M Dayanand, a resident of Moula Ali said, “I parked my car at Bhoiguda side parking lot at 5:20 am and boarded the Inter-city express on Tuesday and returned at 10:20 pm on the same day. I had to shell out Rs 260 towards parking and all efforts to reason with the parking staff proved futile. I was tired so just paid the amount.”

An auto driver, Saleem, who parked his auto in the car park area, said he was charged Rs 50 for one hour and that too he had parked his auto right inside without obstructing business. Most of the time passengers are in such a hurry to catch a train that they just park their vehicle without thinking about the ramifications.

Raman, (name changed on request), a member of the South Central Railway Mazdoor Union (SCRMU) said, “If this condition prevails then one can only imagine what it would be like when the Secunderabad Railway station is leased out to private parties in the name of station redevelopment and modernisation.”

In the 2017 Railway budget, 37 stations were short-listed by the centre for redevelopment in South Central Railways with Secunderabad and Vijayawada stations being the major ones.

On an average 300-500 cars are parked at the parking lot every day. A worker at the railway station said the government rate for 24 hours parking is actually Rs 480 but we are charging only Rs 340. According to reliable sources, the contract was Rs 2 crore for one year and the rates were fixed in accordance with railway authorities.

Sumeet Sharma, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Secunderabad division admitted that he was receiving a lot of complaints especially from the MMTS passengers. As the rates were fixed after a tender process, he said high rates would be looked into in the next tender process.

The most affected are the employees working in the AP secretariat who travel to Guntur everyday and some on the weekends. Jagdish Singh, a resident of Masab Tank, who works as an attender at AP Secretariat in Amravati said, “Many officers complain of high parking fee.

I sometimes ride along in my officer’s car and once saw him pay. It is only after that did I realise how high the fee is.” The SCR pressed two daily inter-city trains for employees from Secunderabad to Vijayawada but it has not bothered to check the parking rates, said Madhava Rao, a daily passenger