LAHORE, July 26: Lahorites were on Monday saved from 66.6 to 100 per cent increase in parking charges for the time being due to the adjournment of the Lahore District Council session convened for the purpose due to lack of quorum.
Opposition member Javed Iqbal advocate pointed out that the house was not in quorum soon after the commencement of proceedings. Only 70 members were found present on counting and district Naib Nazim Farooq Amjad Mir adjourned the house for 10 minutes. The house was again not found in quorum when the session was convened 10 minutes later.
The Naib Nazim took a serious notice of the absence of members from the session and announced forwarding of the names of those remaining absent from three consecutive sessions to the Election Commission for the proceedings for unseating.
He said the members turning up for participation in the council meetings more than one hour after the scheduled time would not be allowed to mark their attendance.
The district officer (public facilities) responsible for checking overcharging at the parking stands had sought approval of the council for increasing parking charges for motorcycles/scooters and cars/jeeps from Rs3 and Rs5 to Rs5 and Rs10 respectively for increasing the income of the contractors.
In his proposal submitted for the parking charges enhancement to the council, the DO did not give any justification for seeking the increase. He only sought approval of the proposal on the ground that no public objection had been received in response to publication of the proposal in newspapers last year.
He further submitted that the LDC finance committee and district Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood had approved increase in the parking charges. Talking to Dawn after the adjournment of the session, opposition leader Navid Sadiq condemned the CDG move for a substantial increase in this regard and described it as a daily tax on the people constrained to use private transport on account of inadequate public transport facilities.
He said that the district government boasted of having presented a tax-free budget on the one hand, but had proposed a substantial increase in a tax in the first meeting of the council after the budget session.
He said the district officer had claimed that the proposal had been approved by the finance committee, but the committee members denied having done so as no genuine public representative could support the idea of legalising overcharging by the parking stands contractors.
