City Municipal Corporation officials on Tuesday fined the contractors of the public toilets at the Gandhipuram Central Bus Stand, Ukkadam Bus terminus and the parking lot at the Ukkadam New Fish Market for reportedly fleecing the public here.

According to a senior official from the Corporation, the officials threw a surprise inspection at the parking lot and the public toilets where the public were reportedly fleeced.

The team directed by Corporation Commissioner K Vijayakarthikeyan had found out that the contractor M Harikrishnan had been charging the public who were parking their two wheelers outside the fish market.

“According to the contract, the contractor is allowed to charge only those who parked inside the fish market, but he was violating the norms and had been charging above the fixed rate,” the official said, adding that the workers in the parking lot had reportedly damaged the rate board hung on the gate.

“We found that the board had been deliberately damaged to confuse the public,” the official added. The officials seized Rs. 1,160 from the contractor and fined him Rs. 20,000. An information board claiming that the public should not be charged if parking outside was also demanded to be installed outside the parking lot by the officials.

Inspecting the public toilet at the Ukkadam Bus Terminus, the officials found that the contractor V K Rahmathulla had been reportedly charging Rs. 3 for use whereas he should be only charging Rs. 1 according to the contract. “The contractor has previously been fined Rs. 5,000, which has not been collected so far. We have terminated his contract and fined him an additional Rs. 10,000 per the Commissioner’s direction,” said the official.

Meanwhile, the contractor S Velusamy at the public toilet in the Gandhipuram Central Bus Stand had been fined Rs. 5,000 on 01.08.2016 for fleecing and he was further fined Rs. 10,000 for fleecing. “We will terminate the contract if he is found to be fleecing again,” the official informed.