Motorists parking their vehicles within a 1-km radius of public parking lots are already being fined up to ₹10,000, but soon, they won’t be able to park anywhere on 15 major roads in the city. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to make these roads ‘no-parking zones’, to encourage people to use public parking lots.
“After a discussion with the Mumbai Police, some of the roads will be declared as no-parking ones. A final call on the roads is yet to be taken,” said Praveen Pardeshi, municipal commissioner. Officials from the road and traffic department have been asked to suggest five roads each from the island city, eastern and western suburbs each. The department has sent a list of 30 roads to the traffic police department who will take a final call.
A senior civic official said, “Parts of major arterial roads will be declared as no-parking roads, because at those places, it is not feasible to mark the entire stretch. The list also includes roads that are narrow due to encroachments and sees illegal parking on both sides.”
“It is no doubt a welcome move. But it needs to be a well thought-out plan where all technicalities need to be explored before implementing it. For instance, where will the residents from nearby buildings park their vehicles. Especially, nearby commercial buildings will also need parking spaces as they have daily visitors in large numbers. Will there an alternative for them?,” asked Vivek Pai, from the Mumbai Mobility Forum.
On June 19, Pardeshi directed all assistant commissioners in BMC’s 24 administrative wards to impose a fine of up to Rs10, 000 on vehicle owners who park their cars within a 1-km radius of public parking lots. Mumbai has 146 public parking spaces, with a capacity to hold 34,808 two-wheelers and four-wheelers.
Meanwhile, the civic body, since this month, has started a toll-free number and a Whatsapp number where citizens can report abandoned vehicles in their area and track its progress too. An external agency has been appointed to take action on all such complaints. The toll-free number for complaints is 1800 220 620 and the Whatsapp number is 7777020828 where people can report the location with a picture of the abandoned vehicle. The agency will coordinate with individual wards who have jurisdiction over the area where the complaints have come from.
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