To tackle the menace of parking contractors charging exorbitant parking fees in South Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) A ward has decided to display large boards at all parking s
To tackle the menace of parking contractors charging exorbitant parking fees in South Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) A ward has decided to display large boards at all parking spaces within the ward. The signboards will be put up by Monday and will carry information about charges at pay-and-park spots, and declare ‘free parking space’ where necessary. Transport activists, however, are viewing this decision of the BMC’s as a temporary and superficial measure. The activists believe that the civic body has always taken the issue of parking in the city ‘very lightly’.
Alternate measures suggested in place of such supposedly superficial measures include setting up an automated ticketing machine — a token system akin to the Metro ticket token — and more stringent contracts, which highlight punishments in case the contractors do not comply with the BMC’s parking fee structure.
Transport expert Ashok Datar said, “The civic body has consistently taken the issue of parking very lightly. Putting up such signboards is certainly a good first step. But the civic body needs to do more to regularise parking spaces in the city, especially South Mumbai. At present, parking takes place in small pockets across South Mumbai and it is very difficult to keep a tab on several such small pockets. If free parking is to be made available more frequently, how will it be regularised ”
Earlier this month, the assistant municipal commissioner of A ward, Kiran Dighavkar, had lodged a police complaint against a contractor for collecting parking fees illegally. The police had then arrested two persons in connection with the case and booked them for fraud.
