With various section of the society expressing dismay over introduction of parking fee system at Nyamo Lotha (NL) Road, Dimapur Municipal Council has issued a clarification on the matter.
When contacted, DMC administrator Moa Sangtam categorically stated that the move to impose parking fee was the decision of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) and not the DMC.
He said the main objective was to ensure more parking space for public and to streamline the ever-growing traffic congestion following haphazard parking. As everyday space for around 30-40 vehicles were taken up by the vehicles belonging to shop owners, who park their vehicles in front of their shops on major arterial roads here, authorities hoped that imposing parking fee would make them reconsider this practice. Keeping in mind the ever increasing number of vehicles in the State’s commercial hub, this would result in more parking space for vehicles and also ensure safety of the vehicles, it added.
Moa Sangtam further stated that the fee collected from parking will be utilised to maintain NL Road and any citizen could check the amount collected per month and how it has been utilised from the DMC office.
It has been hoped that the move would ensure better traffic flow as 30 DMC staff would be deployed everyday to oversee implementation of the latest move and to ensure that people parked their vehicles properly. DMC, however, clarified that no fee would be imposed on vehicles parked less than 10 minutes. The system of levying parking fee is already in place in Kohima for the last few years and no complaint has been received from the public till date, it added.