End of free parking space in Mumbai

Mumbai: Finding a parking spot in south Mumbai, especially at Kala Ghoda, Churchgate and Colaba Causeway, will now become harder for visitors. As per the new civic parking policy, the day (8 am to 8 pm) -and-night (8 pm to 8 am) parking spots on the roads in south Mumbai will now be taken up by the residents of the area.

Once operational, the residents would have to shell out to the BMC Rs 30 per night, or Rs 900 per month for a parking spot on the road, and up to Rs 60 per day, or Rs 1,800 per month. The office goers in ‘A ward’ will have to pay up to Rs 60 for parking on the roads during the daytime.   

Meanwhile, house owners of these areas, who have more than one car, will have to apply to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), seeking an extra parking spot. If the number of applications exceeds the parking spots, BMC will allocate spots based on a lottery. Residents, who don’t win the lottery, will take up parking spots in the nearest public parking area, eating into visitors’ parking spaces.

The BMC will initiate the new parking policy on a pilot basis in the A ward within a month, following which it will be implemented across Mumbai.

A senior civic official said, “The policy will first be implemented in the A ward, and then across Mumbai depending on its success.” The BMC passed the parking policy in January 2015. The state government imposed a stay on the policy and lifted it recently.

Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of the A ward said, “Now that the stay from the state government has been lifted, BMC has decided to implement the policy again.”