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Bangur Nagar has turned into parking nagar: Residents
Authorities are passing the buck with an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation laying the blame on the Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP) for not taking any action. A police officer said that some of the cars and other vehicles parked on the roads belong to the tenants living in these buildings as they are not given parking space in the society premises.
Mumbai: Rampant illegal and haphazard parking across the roads has become a bane for the residents of Bangur Nagar, Goregaon West. They have been complaining about it for months but hundreds of private cabs, tempos, vanity vans and even abandoned cars continue to be parked in the lanes blocking access to walk or drive freely.
Authorities are passing the buck with an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation laying the blame on the Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP) for not taking any action. A police officer said that some of the cars and other vehicles parked on the roads belong to the tenants living in these buildings as they are not given parking space in the society premises.
The residential area was built in the 1970s alongside the Link Road. The area, which has more than 300 buildings spread across 50 housing societies, now faces the challenge of illegal parking. Residents said that some of these narrow roads do not have footpaths and parking on both sides of the roads forces citizens to walk on the road.
Prakash Punjabi, a senior citizen from Bangur Nagar, said, “Morning walks are a part of my daily routine; however, the whole area is now filled with vehicles. This creates problems and I fear being run over.”
“Most of these cars are parked at night and drivers take them away in the morning and they drive mindlessly. This makes it dangerous for people who go out for walks. Our Bangur Nagar has now become a ‘parking nagar’,” added Punjabi.
Bangur Nagar has multiple temples, a school, a junior college, an office complex and many shops. When HT visited the area, almost all the roads had vehicles parked on both sides. And wherever there are temples, there were multiple vanity vans and tempos parked. And outside the school, private cabs had parked on the road.
There were multiple cars and tempos abandoned on some of the roads. The situation is such that some buildings had to resort to placing stones and wooden branches in front of their gates to prevent people from parking vehicles there.
Gyan C. Chadda, member of Bangur Nagar Resident’s Association, said that despite writing multiple letters to the traffic department and the BMC, the parking problem has not been solved.
“These tempo drivers put up stickers like ‘Adani Electricity, Essential services’ etc. to avoid being fined and these vehicles remain here for weeks. The vanity vans and the tempos double park and block our roads. Roads are not for parking. Pedestrians as well as local vehicles face issues because of this.”
Rajesh Akre, assistant commissioner of the P South ward said, “Even the BMC has received complaints about illegal parking and abandoned vehicles in the area. We have, time and again, written to the traffic department to take action and have even provided them with a vehicle to pick up these abandoned vehicles.
“Citizens can request for a no-parking spot in the area, and it will be taken up for consideration. suggestions and objections will be invited.”
Akre added that public parking is available at the Topiwala Centre near the station in Goregaon West and a bigger lot is available for parking on the eastern side near NESCO on the Western Express Highway.
“There is a huge ‘day parking’ available at the Goregaon depot as well. But the problem with that is, vehicles cannot be parked there overnight,” he added.
Aparna Roje, a businesswomen and resident of Bangur Nagar said, “When we want to walk to a temple, it is scary. Tempos and vanity vans are parked on the road with drivers and staff living in it. They even take a bath there openly.”
Rajendra Acharya, another resident from the area said, “The flats here are no less than ₹1.5 to ₹2cr. This place used to be a heaven at one time. With so many vehicles parked, a garage has come up on the road now.
“The auto rickshaws at the auto stands have to double park because of the cars parked at the auto stands too.”
PI Jaywant Pawar, in charge of Goregaon traffic chowkie, said that parking is not allowed on Link Road, and in the bylanes, parking is allowed on one side of the road.
“We do tow vehicles parked on the wrong side,” said Pawar adding that some of the tourist vehicles and cars parked on the right side are owned by the tenants staying in the building, who are not allowed to park inside the society premises.
The society members demand ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 from the tenants and allow free parking to flat owners and as a result, the tenants park their vehicles on the roads. Society members are now demanding those vehicles also to be gone.
“We have spoken to the building residents to allow the tenants to park their vehicles inside the society premises,” said Pawar.
(With inputs from Megha Sood)
