GUWAHATI, Jan 31 � To streamline the management of parking places and stop scavenging tax embezzlement, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) is soon going to introduce hand-held terminas (HHTs), a multipurpose device which would make issuing tickets and money receipts more convenient and transparent.
The corporation has also identified 94 places in the city for parking places and has invited objections for the same.
�On getting complaints about the unauthorized parking places in the city and issuing of unauthorized GMC parking tickets, we have decided to streamline the entire process and notify fresh parking spaces. We are looking forward to complete the process by the next financial year,� GMC commissioner Puru Gupta told The Assam Tribune.
According to the GMC data, at present there are 72 notified parking places in the city of which only 25 are generating revenue for the corporation.
The HHTs would be introduced in the first half of this year, which would make ticket issuing more efficient as it would have the record of the tickets and money receipts issued through the devices. Since such device would be issued to the authorized lessees and GMC collectors, it would not be possible for others to issue forged tickets.
�At present the HHTs are used for issuing bus tickets in various parts of the country. The multipurpose device would also help us in collecting scavenging tax and property tax. Moreover, through such devices, it would be easier for us to create a proper database of vendors, taxpaying people etc.,� the GMC Commissioner said.
After the October 30 blasts in the city in 2008, various steps were taken to restructure the parking places and enforcing proper parking system. Keeping the security threat in mind, lessees were given digital cameras to take the photographs of the vehicle owners, which eventually did not work. Moreover, due to the increased number of vehicles and lack of monitoring, the entire parking system of the city is still grossly disorganized.
