Telangana municipal department permits standalone theatres to collect parking fees

Hyderabad: Considering the difficulty of maintaining the safety of vehicles parked in parking areas, the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) on 20th November issued a government order permitting theatre owners to collect parking fees for all the vehicles parked in the parking area in the theatre premises.

"A lot of vehicles are being parked in the parking area which belongs to people other than cinema-goer and that maintaining the safety of vehicle was becoming an issue. Therefore Government after careful consideration of the matter, hereby permit the owners of standalone cinema theaters to collect the parking fee from the persons who park the vehicle in their premises," read the order.

MAUD also informed that the instructions regarding no parking fee for multiplexes and commercial complexes shall continue to remain as it is.

"Why an exemption only to the stand-alone theatres," asks Vijay Gopal, an RTI activist in the city. Vijay says that the government is giving in to the demands of a section of the society simply because they have favoured it in some way or the other. The High Court of Telangana had issued a judgment in 2003 prohibiting all private enterprises from collecting parking fees. Terming the recent order irresponsible behaviour of the government, Vijay said that it accounts for contempt of court.

Another problem he points out is the resulting confusion that the order is going to create among the public. "The municipal department has forgotten the fact that it is going to create a lot of confusion. Now if in a multiplex the people are asked to pay parking fees, they might simply pay without arguing thinking that's what they do in theatres," says Vijay.

He also questions the reason that the government order cites for giving an exemption to theatres. "The order says that it is considering the safety of the vehicles that the order has been issued. But the theatres where we pay the parking fees give it in writing that they are not responsible for the safety of the vehicles in their receipts. Isn't that contradictory," asks Vijay.

"I hope that the government takes back the order immediately rather than creating a ruckus," adds Vijay.