An employee of Marcos, the company contracted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) to monitor illegal parking in Mumbai tried to extort a vehicle owner in Vile Parle. The BMC’s K West ward officer has filed a complaint with the Juhu police station against the employee.
The incident came into view when the vehicle owner wrote about it on Twitter on Wednesday, reported a leading daily. The accused employee allegedly demanded 1000 Rs from the vehicle owner to let go of the fine.
The K West ward officer took notice of the tweet and approached the Juhu police station to register a complaint.
Assistant Municipal Commissioner V P Mote told the paper, "We filed a complaint against the employee with the Juhu police on Wednesday night. We will enquire about the details of the contractor."
The contract with the company is still in contract with the BMC.
A representative of the company told the paper, "The allegations against my employee are false. We will give a detailed statement to the police and BMC. There was no money involved as we are not authorised to clamp or unclamp vehicles. We are only there to spread awareness and ask people to visit the ward office if their vehicle gets clamped or towed."
In July 2019, the civic body had introduced new parking rules and levying steep fines for unauthorised parking within 500 metres of designated public parking lots or BEST bus depots. The penalty was ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 23,250.
The move, however, was came under fire from the citizens as well as public representatives. Even Mumbai Parking Authority (MPA) termed it as arbitrary and exorbitant.
Hence the civic body forced to review it.
With inputs from PTI
