PUNE: Parking in the city, far beyond being a problem of congestion, convenience and access, is fast turning into a mafia driven service being thrust upon the hapless people, specially youth of Pune, the Youth for Youth Foundation has said here.

In a statement issued here, Ameya Jagtap, president of the foundation stated that it is the youth of the city who have most use of the parking lots.

“Very often we find ourselves at the mercy of gunda like contractors, whose sole motive is to get money out of hapless youth,” he said.

He has termed the decision as a step in the direction of giving up the city to the powerful parking mafia in the city.

“Be it malls, movie theatres, multiplexes, hospitals, or educational institutes, we invariably have to pay exorbitantly to park our vehicles,” the Foundation officials said.

“What we fail to understand is whether the space along the roads be considered as reserved for parking. If not, then why does the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) want us to pay for it,” a statement from the foundation read.

At a time when public transport in Pune is far from satisfactory, the PMC should realise that it is its own negligence that has encouraged people to buy more and more vehicles, the foundation feels.