Move to reserve four roads around Mantralaya for staff vehicles angers residents

State govt took over parking on 4 roads near Mantralaya for employees. Residents outraged. Govt plans to tow illegal parkers. Employees get free slots.

MUMBAI: Confronted with a shortage of parking space, the state government has taken over parking lots on four roads around Mantralaya for government employees and officers. The move has enraged residents from the surrounding areas, and they are considering steps against it.

Mantralaya employees will enjoy parking facility free of charge. (Bhushan Koyande/ HT Photo)

After the Mantralaya administration strictly banned its staff, apart from ministers, IAS and IPS officers, from parking vehicles on the premises, the employees have been finding it difficult to find parking space. Of the over-5,000 employees working in Mantralaya, around 1,000 drive to work in their own or official vehicles. As a solution, the home department, with the help of the BMC and Mumbai traffic police, has chalked out a plan to reserve slots on four roads adjoining the state administration’s headquarters.

Parking lots on HT Parekh Marg (near Akashwani), Free Press Journal Road, Maharshi Karve Road and Jeevan Bima Road have around 500 parking slots, which have now been reserved for government employees and officers. The traffic police, with the help of the BMC, have started the implementation, and over 400 Mantralaya employees have been given stickers for their vehicles.

“We have been implementing the plan for the last few days,” said an official from the traffic police department. “The traffic police have been directed to take action against illegal parking (by residents and visitors) on these lanes where the notifications have already been put up. The action of towing away such vehicles or imposing fines will begin soon.”

The official added that the plan was in the making for about a year after complaints about a lack of parking facilities for the staff began to pour in. “Since the traffic police and BMC, who have decision-making powers on parking, have drawn up the plan, there is no question of legal impediments in the implementation,” he said. “We have received over 600 applications and have begun issuing parking stickers on a first-come-first-serve basis. For the remaining 200 applicants, we are considering making arrangements at MMRDA’s multi-storey parking lot at CR2 near Vidhan Bhavan.”

The Mantralaya employees will enjoy the facility free of charge. “Mantralaya has only 180 parking slots, and those are reserved for VVIPs and VIPs such as ministers and high-ranking officers,” said a Mantralaya official. After the 2012 fire at Mantralaya, the administration restricted parking on the premises and this led to a shortage of parking space. The plan of underground parking within the premises did not work out, forcing employees to park their cars far away from the Mantralaya building.”

Citizens, meanwhile, are appalled at the government’s move. “It is unfair to reserve public roads for government employees’ vehicles, as this is a residential area with buildings constructed in the 1940s when there was no mandate of parking lots for buildings,” said Atul Kumar, president of the Nariman Point Residents Association. “The initial free parking facility was made a paid one a few years ago, and we agreed to that too. But the step of reserving public parking space for government employees is unacceptable.”

Kumar added that with J Tata Marg between Churchgate Station and Nariman Point being shut for years for the metro work, the taking over of the other roads for government parking would cause major inconvenience. “Residents here are angry,” he said. “Instead of taking away their parking , the state government should have followed through with its underground parking lot for its employees or built them a parking tower. We are now in the process of deciding what steps to take against this.”