90ft road is now a single lane, thanks to illegal parking: Bandra residents

The residents said this is due to a heavy influx of cabs, auto rickshaws and tempos, who park haphazardly on these roads to save from having to pay parking charges in Bandra Kurla Complex

Mumbai: Despite an odd-even parking rule in the area, residents of MIG Colony in Bandra East said that it is nearly impossible for them to park a car on a road, and it is an ordeal if they need to take their vehicle out of their building premises.

Mumbai, India - June 07, 2023: Vehiles parked on both the roadsides, at Bandra (East), in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, June 07, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

The residents said this is due to a heavy influx of cabs, auto rickshaws and tempos, who park haphazardly on these roads to save from having to pay parking charges in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

Dr Padmini Desai, member of the Advanced Locality Management (ALM), who resides near the MHADA office, said, “The MHADA area is chock-a-block with barely one lane for vehicles to pass from both sides. If there are any construction vehicles, there will be jams. There are tables placed on footpaths by hawkers and stalls at the corner of the road where auto and cab drivers park their vehicles while having food. This leads to further jams.”

Dr Desai added that she has operated on a few people from her area, who met with an accident due to rash driving by auto drivers. “An auto ran over someone’s foot and he had to be operated upon. Authorities should look into the matter.”

Despite a pay-and-park facility, double parking in the lane causes jams. “There has to be some discipline here,” said Dr Desai.

Moving ahead, the situation gets worse in the area near Rustomjee and Jade gardens. The autorickshaws have set up an illegal stand, to park vehicles when they rest or sleep, outside the gates of one of the buildings there.

In the area behind MIG cricket club, the odd-even parking rule is only on paper as the influx of vehicles from the BKC has translated into haphazard parking on both sides of the road. Vehicles are double and triple parked on the side where parking is allowed for the day.

Bhadresh Kamdar, a resident and a member of ALM, said that despite repeated attempts to clear illegal parking, vehicles keep returning. “If we have any guests coming in, there is no parking space for them,” added Kumar.

Jimmy Francis, a resident of nearby high rise, said, “Our dedicated gate for emergency vehicles is always blocked by autorickshaws. This (pointing at a road outside his building) is a 90-feet road, but only one vehicle from each side can pass from here.”

Blaming residents from the nearby slums, Devendra Rathod, senior police inspector of Kherwadi traffic police chowki, said residents of Behram Baug slums park their two wheelers on the no-parking side of the road. “We regularly send e-challans to people who park their vehicles on the wrong side,” said Rathod.

About the parked cars blocking the lanes, Rathod said the vehicles are owned by the residents.

Similarly, in Bandra West, former corporator Rahebar Khan has written to the Mumbai Traffic Police and the government on the issue of two-wheelers, tempos and auto rickshaws illegally parked in the area.

Khan, who has written multiple letters to the authorities, said “I have proposed public parking on a plot, which was given to Sunil Gavaskar to run a cricket academy, near Spastic Society, Bandra West. Gavaskar has not utilised this land for 25 years and has now written to MHADA that he does not require the piece of land,” said Khan.

Khan added that in both KC Marg and AK Vaidya Marg, traffic police are not taking any action. Rahebar demanded that there should be odd-even parking rule in the area to ease traffic jams.

Sanjay Samudra, a resident from the area, has also written to the authorities. “There is a van that is always parked outside our house and that spot has become a den for locals to drink alcohol. Only one vehicle can pass at a time on the road because the rest of the road is occupied by these parked vehicles. Despite a ‘no parking’ board in front of our gate, people continue to park there. Our society has many senior citizens and if an ambulance has to come in, there is no space.”

Haridas Killedar, senior police inspector of Bandra traffic chowki, said tempo and truck drivers are also residents of the locality and despite there being a no parking zone, they park their vehicles. “We keep making cases and issuing e-challans. However, towing tucks and tempos is not possible yet,” said Killedar.

(With inputs from Megha Sood)