With an eye on revenue generation and to check illegal taxi stands mushrooming in the city, the Mohali municipal corporation has finally approved the policy for allotment and regularisation of taxi stands for a revised fee.
Under the new policy, the allottee will have to pay a fee of ₹1,000 per taxi per month to the civic body. The issue had been hanging fire since 2016.
There are at least 31 illegal taxi stands that have been operating in the town and a large chunk of prime land, mainly in parking lots of main markets, has been encroached upon by these operations. They run a profitable business but do not pay any charges to the civic body.
The new policy that has been approved will govern the allotment and regularisation of taxi stands. A taxi stand allottee will have to pay ₹1,000 per taxi per month as against the earlier fee of ₹400 per taxi per month.
STAND TO BE GIVEN ON RENT
The policy states that the taxi stand will be given on rent to the allottee and the same will be renewed annually with provision of 5% hike in the fee.
Operators will have to get their stands regularised and pay the fee with arrears from the time the taxi stand started operating. Every taxi stand allottee will also have to deposit a ₹10,000 refundable security that will be refunded whenever the allottee hands over the taxi stand.
Till 2013-14, the fee levied was ₹30 per taxi per month, which was revised to ₹400 per taxi per month for 2014-15.
“Taxi stand owners have encroached upon the parking lots and other places with impunity and have also made a mafia. No taxi will be allowed to stand beyond the allotted space,” said Kulwant Singh, mayor of Mohali.
“The taxi stand allottee will have to prove that he has a fleet of taxis and is not dependent on outsourcing the vehicles,” added the mayor, though the civic body is yet to fix the minimum number of vehicles required for an allottee seeking allotment of a taxi stand.
MC commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg said, “We have been receiving complaints about illegal taxi stands coming up in Mohali. Thus, to check the mushrooming of these illegal stands, t he policy has been approved.”
Taxi stand operators will also need to construct proper toilets in the stand area and they will not be allowed to wash vehicles or clothes at that place. The taxi stand owner will display fares and the rates will be unanimous.
