Mumbai: The BMC coffers were richer by Rs. 1,80,000 on the very first day of its crackdown on illegal parking. The corporation has imposed hefty fines on parking violations within a 500 meters radius of 26 authorised parking lots. As per the new rate card, car owners who are caught illegally parking within the 500-metre radius will have to pay a penalty of Rs 7,500 upfront. If owners are not present with the vehicle, the traffic police will tow the vehicle away and charge the owner an additional Rs 2,500 as towing charges. Similarly, two-wheelers parked illegally in the same radius will have to pay a penalty of Rs 4,300 upfront. If their vehicle is towed away, they will have to pay Rs 700 extra.
The fine for late payment for four-wheelers is Rs 170 per day and for two-wheelers it is Rs 110 per day. At least 61 vehicles were towed away on Sunday. The highest fine -- Rs.1,30,000 -- emanated from the Bandra-Vile Parle stretch. Of the 61 vehicles towed away on Sunday, owners of nine forked out a fine of Rs 10,000 each and got their vehicles released; the rest will have to pay late payment charge.If the vehicle owners do not cough up the penalty in 30 days, their impounded vehicles will be auctioned, the BMC officials said. And if it brings any cheer, the BMC has clarified that the amount collected through this exercise will be spent on development works. A civic corporation official said more members of the public were inclined to patronise the civic body’s parking lots after the crackdown on Sunday. One parking lot was bursting at the seams and saw 255 cars over and above its capacity.
