KARACHI, July 17: Ombudsman Sindh, Justice (rtd) Haziq-ul- Kairi has said that every one living in Karachi should help the city government generate funds.

The ombudsman had taken ‘suo moto’ notice of a news item in a section of the press regarding the KMC’s decision to impose charged parking fees. He had called for comments thereon from the then administrator KMC.

In response, the then municipal commissioner had submitted his report dated February 14, 2001, justifying the levy of charge fee under the KMC parking bylaws, 1975, and explained that it had inducted the charged parking at select spots with a view to disciplining the traffic, preventing traffic jams and tapping an additional revenue for the city.

During the hearing of the case the rate of parking fee came under discussion and it transpired that it would be Rs5 per car for the first hour and Rs10 per vehicle for every successive hour for roadsides in commercial areas.

A fee of Rs10 per car was leviable at public parks while Rs5 per car was charged at hospital sites.

According to the city government, the funds generated through charged parking will be spent on road and foot paths and its engineering department has constituted a committee to check the work.

The ombudsman observed that parking fee levies are in vogue in varying forms in almost all the mega-cities of the world. In the western countries, he stated, the parking rates were very high and recovered on an hourly basis.

Justice Haziqul Khairi pointed out that those who came for shopping in expensive commercial areas of Karachi in their cars should have no problem paying meagre parking fee less than the cost of a beverage. Thus no case of mis-governance or maladministration was made out from the levy of this charge fee.—APP