Illegal garage operating inside BMC parking facility in Byculla

The hitch: the ground-plus-four podium structure, near Byculla station, is a public facility owned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), making the garage an unauthorised operation

MUMBAI: What better place for a car mechanic to set up shop than a parking facility for over a thousand vehicles. Three partners, who own a car repair business, have done just that, moving into the ground floor of a multi-level parking facility in Byculla east a few months ago. The hitch: the ground-plus-four podium structure, near Byculla station, is a public facility owned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), making the garage an unauthorised operation.

Illegal garage operating inside BMC parking facility in Byculla

And yet the garage is making no attempt to conceal its presence. More than 20 cars were parked there, tools strewn all over, and mechanics busy at work a few days ago.

Business is obviously good, for the partners who own the garage allegedly pay ₹45,000 a month to the “contractor” who runs the parking facility, according to Mohammed Jamil, 49, one of them. He said they used to operate from another location in Byculla east before moving in here.

HT spoke to the “contractor” identified by Jamil as “Pandey”. He denied any wrongdoing and, in fact, flatly denied the existence of garage. He refused to say any more.

The issue was first flagged six months ago by Atul Jangam, general secretary of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Mumbai. Jangam wrote to the Agripada police last month, pointing out that an unauthorised garage has been functioning from the BMC parking facility. The police said the matter fell under the BMC’s jurisdiction and have forwarded the complaint to the local ward office.

According to documents accessed through the Right to Information Act, the parking facility is spread across 65,563.61 sq m, with three basement levels, a ground floor and four podium floors. It is designed to accommodate 1,339 light motor vehicles, light commercial and heavy motor vehicles, along with 258 two-wheelers and 55 cycles.