Having spent a few weeks here in Chennai, I realized there is various forms of corruption/bribery/scam going on all over Chennai.

I am starting a new series of posts with the tag ‘Developed India’, to show what are the small things that are pulling our country down.

Starting this series with a Chennai Central Railway Station Premium Parking Scam.

I went to Chennai Central Railway Station today and went to the premium parking lot. After I parked the car, the ticket attender gave me a ticket for Rs.25/- and since it was a bit dark, I did not notice the details on the ticket right away. Then I went under a well lit section of the station and noticed the ticket, it is a ticket with some other vehicle number in it.  I went back to the attender and mentioned to him that it was some other vehicle number in it. He was cool and he said ‘dont worry, you are ok’. (Should he not be the one who is worried because he gave a old ticket to me? 🙂 )

When we exited the parking lot from the same gave, another attender, right next to the previous one, collected my ticket. I am quite sure they would be reusing it for some one else.

This clearly shows a simple corruption going on here.

They use one ticket multiple times and pocket the money after the first use. Obviously the premium parking lot is not well lit and is poorly maintained.

The logic is quite clear: The attenders do not get paid enough, so they try to make extra money by cheating the Government.

How could I have prevented this: As soon as the attender gave me a ticket that looked fishy, may be I should have put my foot down and demanded a new ticket with my car number in it. I guess I am one of those lazy ones, who felt I did not have the time to wait and fight with him on this. As I look back at this incident, I feel may be I will be a bit more patient the next time and demand that the attender gives me the right ticket with my vehicle number in it.

If you come across such incidents, where you see blatant violation of the rules, please feel free to post here.