Mumbai: Pay ’n’ park on plot in Chembur irks members

Things are not going swimmingly well for some members at the General Arunkumar Vaidya swimming pool in Chembur East The sprawling public facility has invited tenders for vendors to run a lsquopayandparkrsquo facility at the big open space in front of the poolThe members requesting anonymity said there has been substantial dismay at the invitation for tenders as they believe the complex should allow them to park their cars on the premises Currently the members are only allowed to park twowheelersldquoThe parking space is part of the swimming pool complex The members who drive to the complex have to park their cars on the road As the road is busy they spend a lot of time finding a spot Instead of letting members avail of the space tenders are being invited This is extremely strange to say the leastrdquo a member saidNo complaints beforeArchana Deshmukh the pool manager said ldquoWe have a twowheeler parking space for our members which is substantialrdquo Pointing to a vast space near the pool she added ldquoLook at this passage the width of the corridor is considerable We do not allow fourwheeler parkingldquoThis is the first time I hear members are irked about not being able to bring their cars into the complex We have approximately 4500 members Nobody has complained to me If there is any grievance members can meet me or send complaints in writing they must go through this proper channelldquoWhen cars are parked even negotiating out of this space is difficult In fact our twowheel parking is so big that it is not full at least half the time as we have certain pool timings We keep our membersrsquo welfare in mind and help the public as well We have a lot of goodwill and these complaints are obviously somehow motivatedrdquo Deshmukh addedOn payandpark tenders Deshmukh said they were looking at a concessional rate for members but they needed to generate revenue ldquoWe need funds for upkeep as you can see the swimming pools and amenities are well maintainedrdquoThe movie analogyKishore Gandhi BMC deputy commissioner Gardens said ldquoYes the tenders have been invited for the pay and park facility What is wrong with that If members want to bring their cars then like others they need to pay and park their carsrdquoOn pointing out the fact that members of the swimming pool complex should not have to pay for parking Gandhi said ldquoParking is a different facility When you go to a theatre for a movie you buy a ticket but still you pay for parking your vehicle This situation is somewhat similarrdquoThe members however maintained that the parking space is a contiguous plot ldquoThere are swimming pool complexes where parking for members is free A family or a group of people who want to swim together cannot travel on a twowheeler Moreover it is the monsoon season and commuting by twowheelers is not feasiblerdquo they added