New Parking Regulations: BMC Collects 1.8 Lakh In Penalty On 1st Day From Illegally Parked Vehicle Owners

The first day of implementation of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) new parking regulation saw action against 63 vehicle-owners for illegal parking. The civic body collected ₹1.8 lakh in a penalty from 18 defaulters.

The revised rules attracted mixed reactions from the citizens of the city.

On July 7, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation imposed a penalty of Rs 5000 to Rs 15000 on people, if their vehicles were found in non-parking zones within 500m radius of the 26 public parking spaces in the city.

The penalty comprises of two components: fine charges and towing charges.

“There are 26 parking lots in locations such as Parel, Dadar and Goregaon. If a vehicle is parked within 500m of these lots, it will be towed away and the owner will be fined. There are 20-odd BEST depots where motorists can park during the day when buses are out. If a vehicle is parked within 500m of these depots, the owner will be fined,” a traffic police officer explained to The Times Of India.

The heavy penalty is expected to be a point of contention between officials and motorists. Hence, to avoid altercations, the traffic police will be assisted by ex-servicemen.

“Altercations are expected. It is an aggressive step and there will be repercussions. But the civic chief seems to have put thought into this scheme. It’s possibly a trial to gauge the public reaction,” AV Shenoy of Mumbai Vikas Samiti told The Times Of India.

The change in rules have been implemented by the BMC and the traffic police.

Officials have confirmed that the densely congested areas with parking lots will be a priority.

The civic officials said the policy aims at getting rid of illegal parking that restricts the movement of emergency vehicles. All parking lots are operational and those where contractors have not been appointed, motorists are not being penalised. In others, motorists are penalised according to the fine decided by the authorities.

The BMC’s improvement committee requested the civic administration to postpone the date of penalty policy implementation and demanded a discussion at the General Body Meeting. However, the move was implemented on Sunday, July 7.

According to officials, the policy will be difficult to implement in areas within 500m of parking lots where citizens were allowed to park freely. It will be convenient to implement in places where the BMC offers free parking.

The BMC began hiring ex-servicemen from private security agencies and trained them to generate awareness among citizens about the changes in regulations.

The civic body has put up signboards in no-parking zones. Officials said that the motive is not to penalise the motorists but to ensure road decongestion and utilisation of parking lots.

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