Mumbai : South Mumbai residents will have to shell out four times more for vehicular parking on the street now. A controversial parking policy, which had been pending for a year, was passed in the BMC’s general assembly on Friday. Under this policy, street parking charges will be business area-specific. Thus, south Mumbai residents will have to pay Rs 60 per hour for street parking, as against Rs 15 per hour they cough up now.
This parking policy, which aims to encourage the use of public parking lots, was initially proposed in December 2013 when it was approved by the Improvements Committee. However, it had been struck down by the BMC’s general assembly over the proposed manifold hike. On Friday it cruised through the assembly meeting, when former Mayor Sunil Prabhu tabled the proposal.
According to the new policy, which comes into immediate effect, the city has been divided into three business areas — A, B and C. The more congested areas such as Co-laba, Fort and Nariman Point fall in ‘A’ category, where the charge is the highest at Rs 60 per hour. The parking fee in ‘B’ category areas, which include Prabhadevi, Siddhivinayak and Matunga, would be Rs 40 per hour; in category ‘C,’ which includes Chembur and Malabar Hill, motorists will have to pay Rs 20 per hour. This policy is a complete departure from the blanket fee of Rs 15 per hour that the civic body has been charging all these years.
The hike saw much ruckus in the general assembly on Friday, after which opposition parties staged a walk-out. “This policy is not citizen friendly and Mumbaikars are being held hostage to the BMC’s whims. The city only has 2 to 3 lakh parking slots, as against 22 lakh vehicles plying here. How is hiking parking charges going to help?” asked Devendra Amberkar, leader of opposition in the BMC.
There are a total 92 pay-and-park lots managed by the civic body of which 47 are listed in the A category.
Commenting on the issue, additional municipal commissioner SVR Srinivas, who is in-charge of roads, said, “I agree that the parking space is much less as compared to the rising demand in the city. We are building more parking lots, including multi-storeyed ones. But this is also essential to ease the strain on the city’s infrastructure.”
The policy also envisages a resident parking permit system, which will be started in ‘A’ ward on a trial basis. This system will ensure that parking lots on the street will be reserved for cars only from the adjoining buildings once they get a permit. On the other hand, autos and taxis will get a 50 per cent concession and public buses will get a 30 per cent concession in parking fees.
