CHANDIGARH, Oct. 24 -- The municipal corporation's long-delayed Smart Parking project has hit yet another roadblock as officials have decided to first present the proposal to newly appointed chief secretary H Rajesh Prasad before proceeding further. The move follows a recent communication from the UT administration asking the MC for a detailed status report on the project, which has been pending since 2022. Instead of replying immediately, the civic body will now make a formal presentation to the chief secretary, explaining the project's current status, technical hurdles and proposed way forward. "Only after this presentation, the MC will move ahead with the next steps of finalising the request for proposal (RFP) of the project and tabling it in the general house meeting," an MC official said. Conceived in August 2022, the project aims to modernise all 89 paid parking lots in Chandigarh through FASTag-enabled, cashless payments and real-time monitoring. However, three years later, parking attendants continue to issue manual slips and the project remains on paper. The proposal was first presented to the MC House in July 2023, and new parking rates were approved a year later in July 2024. The process of awarding the contract to a private firm stalled due to disputes over GST, stamp duty and technicalities in the memorandum of understanding (MoU). The House later scrapped the earlier plan, directing officials to prepare a revised blueprint with corrected rates and terms. As the project drags on, the MC is working on launching a citywide monthly parking pass as an interim relief. Under the proposed system, a car pass will cost Rs.500 and a two-wheeler pass Rs.250, allowing unlimited entries at all paid lots. Officials estimate that if even 50,000 commuters opt for the new passes, the MC could earn Rs.30 crore annually-significantly higher than the current monthly revenue of Rs.50-Rs.80 lakh. Once implemented, the Smart Parking project is expected to generate Rs.50 crore per year and streamline parking across the city....