Chandigarh, Sept. 23 -- Treading carefully in the election year, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led General House of the municipal corporation (MC) on Tuesday decided against hiking parking rates at the 21 lots in Sector 17. The elections are slated for December.

The House, however, passed the agenda to hand over the operation and management of these 21 parking lots, including the multi-level parking, to a private contractor at the existing rates (see box).

Interestingly, the agenda for the meeting, released 72 hours before the session, had proposed to raise the parking rates and charge motorists depending on the duration of parking.

When the agenda came up for hearing, mayor Saurabh Joshi deferred it, stating, "We will not be increasing t...