With cops stepping up penalties, many old buildings write to them saying they have no option but to park on roads; police say they will survey and allot public slots wherever possible
Mumbai’s traffic and parking woes seem to be ever increasing. File pic
Many housing societies in Mumbai city that have been built years ago don’t have parking space. Residents of these buildings have no option but to park their vehicles on nearby roads. The traffic police act against such vehicles. But now after some societies wrote to them seeking their help regarding parking, the department’s own survey will create a parking zone for residents’ vehicles.
Residents speak
Mohsin Agwan, a resident of Round Building near Saat Rasta said, “This building is around 100 years old and due to lack of parking space, people park on the roads. The building committee has written several letters to the traffic police in this matter. We have requested the traffic police to provide parking facilities to the people.”
The BMC has created many parking lots across the city. File pic
Shirin Apartment of Agripada which was built 15 years ago, also has no parking space in it. Javed Ahmed, a resident of the building, told mid-day, “Residents have bikes that they park on the footpath, but the traffic police acts against them.” Residents of this building have also written to the traffic police about parking.
The traffic police’s survey will include aspects such as whether the road near the building is one way or two way. If the road is one way its width will be taken into account. The issue of payment for this parking has not yet been discussed.
The Mumbai traffic police has e-challaned 20,556 motorcycles and 25,403 four-wheelers for no parking from December 1, 2020 to January 27, 2021. According to the traffic police, there are a total of 50 public parking lots, 80 street parking spaces in Mumbai. But only 5 per cent people use them. There are many places where the BMC has built parking spaces, but as they are at a distance from the house, some people don’t park there. Officials said some people even don’t know about nearby parking zones.
Police speak
Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic) Yashasvi Yadav said, “The traffic police is taking action against illegal parking on the roads of Mumbai. But some people have written to us saying their society does not have parking space. We will survey such societies whose residents write to us about this issue and try to resolve it.”
80
No. of street parking spaces in Mumbai
50
No. of public parking lots across the city
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