BMC must create more parking, say miffed activists

MUMBAI: Civic commissioner Praveen Pardeshi has said that car owners encroach on BMC roads just like slum dwellers illegally occupy public spaces. He said, “Car owners encroach on roads by parking their vehicles and barring others from using that portion of public land. So, action will be taken against such encroachers.”

Citizen activists have slammed the move and said the civic body must create more parking space for vehicles instead.
Activist Ashok Pandit said, “This is dictatorship. Did the BMC speak to citizens, NGOs and experts before taking such a decision? They are here to serve the people but take decisions without taking citizens into confidence. There are other ways to find a solution instead of harassing citizens.”
The BMC has 146 pay-andpark lots in different parts of the city where around 30,000 cars can be parked along with 4,000 bikes. The civic body insists that people park in parking lots and not on roads which causes serious problems for pedestrians and leads to traffic congestion. In tbe past, the city has witnessed several instances where fire vehicles have faced difficulties reaching a site due to illegally parked vehicles.
The BMC will use the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act’s sections 314 for encroachment and 381 for nuisance to implement the rule.
It will bring in a policy listing penalty details and amounts for illegal parking. The BMC will put up boards in noparking zones, saying it will have zero tolerance towards illegal parking within 1km of arterial roads and impose fines.
Ward officers have also been asked to hire machines to tow away wrongly parked vehicles.
King’s Circle resident Nikhil Desai (67) said, “The BMC must first provide enough alternatives for parking and construct underground and multi-storey parking at railway stations. Otherwise, the idea of imposing a penalty will not work like in the case of the plastic ban.”