The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has introduced a formula-based penalty for unauthorised parking, which will be equivalent to about 40 times the existing parking charges, said officials. In July 2019, the civic body had introduced new parking rules and levied steep fines for unauthorised parking within 500 metres of designated public parking lots or BEST bus depots. The penalty ranged from Rs 5,000 to Rs 23,250. The move, however, came under fire from the citizens, as well as public representatives. Even the Mumbai Parking Authority (MPA) termed it as arbitrary and exorbitant. Hence, the civic body was forced to review it.
Under retired IAS officer Gautam Chatterjee, the MPA undertook a comprehensive review of the parking charges and came up with a new formula-based fine. The new fines for four-wheelers has come down to Rs 4,000. For two-wheelers, it will be Rs 1,800, Rs 7,000 for buses and Rs 10,000 for heavy vehicles, according to a new circular issued earlier this week. For four-wheeler vehicles, earlier, the fine for unauthorised parking was Rs 10,000 with a late fee of Rs 170 per day, if the owner failed to retrieve the vehicle.
Suggest ways to restrict number of vehicles in Mumbai: HC to government
Taking the authorities to task over the lack of parking space in Mumbai, the Bombay High Court has asked the Transport Department and the BMC to submit their suggestions, on ways to limit the number of vehicles, within two weeks
January 30, 2018: The Bombay High Court, on January 29, 2018, directed the Maharashtra government and civic authorities, to suggest ways to limit the number of vehicles on Mumbai roads. A bench of justices Naresh Patil and NW Sambre, also asked the state transport department if it was possible to impose a condition that one must produce proof of having access to adequate parking space, when buying a vehicle. The Transport Department and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), should submit their suggestions within two weeks, the court said.
See also: Bombay HC raps municipal corporation, housing society for usurping garden plot
“A person who can’t afford to buy a car, can’t even walk on the sidewalk, because there are vehicles parked illegally. You (the state) are snatching his right by indiscriminately allowing so many vehicles on the road and permitting their owners to park illegally,” the bench said. “Does the BMC have any data on how many residents or families own more than one car? Lakhs of new vehicles are registered every day in the city. This can’t be permitted to continue,” it said.
The high court was hearing a public interest litigation claiming that the increasing number of private vehicles on the city’s roads and the lack of adequate parking space, were inconveniencing the public at large. During an earlier hearing, the bench had cautioned the BMC that the city would soon run out of open space, if a solution was not found to the problem of burgeoning number of private vehicles and illegal parking.
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