Parking your car on the road? Beware. Soon, you may not only have to pay a fine to the traffic police, but also to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) parking authority.

According to sources, the parking authority is presently mulling expanding its role to penalising vehicle owners for illegal parking.

The authority is working with urban planners to survey on-street parking spaces in the city, after it already completed doing so for off-street parking spaces. Once that is done, it will map parking zones in the city and thus effectively, no-parking zones.

Ramnath Jha, a former IAS officer who has been appointed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to head the parking authority, said, “Obviously action will be taken if cars are parked in no-parking zones, otherwise what is the point of having a parking authority? There will be commonalities in the jobs done by the traffic police and the parking authority.” Jha said the parking authority will regulate parking, but the traffic police’s job will continue to be done by them, as is legal. This may take place under the aegis of the parking authority.

Jha added, “We cannot duplicate work. What is their (traffic police) function is specified under the police act, so we will have to take those things into consideration. We will legally review this and there will be writing of statutes that will determine the authority’s exact role. The nuances are yet to be worked out.”

The news has been welcomed by experts. Vivek Pai, from the Mumbai Mobility Forum said, “We are all up for this arrangement, as the city is in dire need for regulating parking. If the parking authority is to take up the role of fining offenders for illegal parking, it will be great to work out the revenue model and parking rates. This will give the authority more regulatory power.”

First Published: May 09, 2019 00:03 IST