By: Lalmohan PatnaikCUTTACK: The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has placed into auction 27 paid parking areas across the city, with a total base/reserved price of Rs 24.26 lakh set for the 2019-20 fiscal.Additional commissioner Suman Behera said tenders had been invited for different parking areas from Monday. The last day of receipt of tenders would be March 27 till 4 pm, official sources said."The allotment prices will be finalized after the respective tenders are opened on March 28," Behera said.The CMC had allotted parking areas at around Rs 22 lakh in 2017-18 and around Rs 24 lakh in 2018-19.Corporation officials said, after the finalization of tenders, the highest bidders would be authorized to collect parking fees in their respective parking areas.According to the authorization, commuters who park their four-wheelers will have to shell out Rs 20. While auto-rickshaws will be charged Rs 10, scooters and motorcycles will be charged Rs 5. Commuters parking their cycles will have to pay Rs 2.The parking areas will be remain open from 8 am to 11 pm.A sub-committee of the Traffic Management Committee (TMC) of commissionerate police had identified the spots for developing parking spaces. The Cuttack district magistrate had accordingly notified the identified spots as parking areas for different vehicles. The corporation has been in charge of developing the areas since 2016.The parking areas were identified to ease traffic congestion on the city's thoroughfares, a TMC member said. Several of them were identified in commercial and prominent market areas that lacked parking facilities. "The problem of parking had led to traffic congestion on roads in these places," he said.The highest reserve price or base price of Rs 3.65 lakh has been fixed for the parking area at Tejeswar Rao Chakh near SCB Medical College Hospital on the Ranihar side.Some other major parking areas put up for auction include the space in front of the SBI main branch near the collectorate (Rs 2.99 lakh), the stretch between Satichaura and Aswini Hospital (Rs 2.20 lakh), Badambadi Taxi Stand (Rs 2.03 lakh), the space in front of the petrol pump at College Square (Rs 1.32 lakh) and the space near Big Bazar near on Old Jail road (Rs 1.13 lakh).

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