In a first, Mira-Bhayandar and Vasai-Virar to have designated public parking spaces

Traffic police and local corporations in Mira-Bhayandar and Vasai-Virar, India, have identified 300 locations that could be designated as public parking lots and no-parking zones. The move comes after years of illegal parking and a lack of designated parking spaces. A notification is expected to be issued in the next few days, with boards to be placed on the designated spots. The police will conduct awareness drives before penalising offenders.

If you plan to drive into Mira-Bhayandar or Vasai-Virar next week, you will not have to scout for a space to park your vehicle as the traffic police and the two corporations have, for the first time, identified 300 spots that could be designated as public parking lots and no-parking zones. A notification is likely to be issued in the next two-three days, people aware of the development said and added that not all the parking spaces will be free of cost.

In a first, Mira-Bhayandar and Vasai-Virar to have designated public parking spaces

“These 300 locations will also include spaces by the roadside on the odd-even formula,” Prakash Gaikwad, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said.

Though years have passed since Mira Bhayandar and Vasai Virar City municipal corporations have come into existence, the region has not seen a single public parking lot. While the traffic police are finding it tough to control the illegal parking spaces, motorists are having a hard time paying fines after their vehicles have been towed away for parking in no-parking zones.

“Every time our vehicle is towed away, we travel three to four km to the traffic police chowkies and waste at least two hours to get the vehicle back after paying a fine of ₹700. If people parked their vehicles in no-parking zones it would be indiscipline and they would be fined, but there are no designated public parking lots,” said Kanchan Jha, who had to pay a fine three times in the last two months to get her two-wheeler back.

Residents said service roads are the preferred locations to park four-wheelers and two-wheelers, which make it difficult to pass through those roads.

Prakash Joshi, a property consultant from Vasai, said parents dropping their children to school, or relatives visiting patients in hospitals where there is no parking facility, face a huge problem. “Within seconds of leaving the vehicle on the roadside, it gets picked up by the traffic police. Once the parking spaces are allotted, it would be easier for the vehicle owners as well as the pedestrians.”

Joshi claimed that in many places garage owners and second-hand car dealers park their vehicles outside their establishments, but the police don’t act against them. “It seems the law is only for ordinary citizens who are not even aware that the spot falls under a no-parking zone because either the board is not there, or it has been put in a remote corner from where it is not visible.”

DCP Gaikwad said the civic bodies, after issuing a notification, will place boards on the designated spots. “Then, for the next few months, we will conduct drives to make people aware of the parking lots and the no-parking zones. Only after that will we start penalising the offenders.”

“Our focus is on traffic management rather than issuing challans and imposing fines on citizens,” Gaikwad added.

According to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police, at least 100 vehicles get towed away every day. Police officers said till August-end, they had issued 2,35,459 challans for various violations, including illegal parking in the twin civic areas. Around ₹50 lakh in fines had been collected from 7,963 motorists till August for parking in no-parking zones, the officers said.

The police officers also said that they had submitted a proposal to the corporations for using truck terminals as parking spaces for heavy vehicles and long-distance buses.

Manoj Patil, BJP president for Vasai assembly segment, said, “There are marked spaces for parking facilities in the sanctioned Development Plans which the civic bodies needed to acquire and make allotments. However, that did not happen, and the plans just remained on paper.”

In the meantime, vehicle owners had to suffer as many would park their vehicles outside markets and schools, unaware that they would be towed away, Patil added.