The figure 197 may not look big, but the developer who was to give these many parking lots is one of the biggest in Mumbai. Dosti Corporation, that has projects in Sewri, was to construct public parking lots in this area. Despite issuing the first Letter of Intent (LOI) in 2009 and a revised one in 2014, the developer has failed to do so.
According to the developer, they have not used the FSI, and also there are pending litigations, thus delaying the public parking project. Of the 197 parking slots available, 166 are meant for Light Motor Vehicles (LMV), while the remaining are meant for Light Carriage Vehicles (LCV). The parking has to come up on Tokarshi Jivaraj Road in Sewri.
For an area like Parel-Sewri, which is filled with civic and trust-run hospitals along with new construction coming up, parking on the streets is a big menace. For Vijay Indulkar, a resident of Sewri, the parking on road causes a lot of trouble. “From vehicles being parked on footpath or on the sides of the streets, it is difficult to even walk on the roads of Sewri and nearby areas. If the public parking that the developer has to provide comes in, things would better.”
Another resident of the area Janhavi Gharve said that they park on the street, and even when they go out they have to return the same night or else their vehicle would be towed. “There are odd and even days parking available on the streets here. Even when we go out, we return by 9 pm to park the vehicle from one side to other so that we get space for parking. At times, we have to park our car as far as Worli at our friend’s place,” she added.
For people like Gharve, public parking is important; this would mean they will have a better and safe parking available within their vicinity.
When contacted Dosti Corporation, its spokesperson said, “The delay in completion of the public parking project is caused due to pending litigations that Dosti Corporation is facing at present in respect of this project.”
A statement from them earlier stated, “The Public Parking Project at Sewri has not commenced yet nor is any FSI used by Dosti Corporation. Therefore, the question of handing over of any parking lot to MCGM does not arise at this stage. On completion of the project, Dosti Corporation will handover the parking lot to MCGM as per the provisions of DCR 33(24) of 1991.”
As per local corporatist, people need the parking lot in this area at the soonest. “The said parking lot is on the prime location where people can make use of it. But the developer hasn’t done it yet. We have another parking lot on the same street, which is handed over to the BMC but it is far from the main road. So people need it as soon as possible,” informed Dattaram Pongade, local corporator.