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New parking policy implementation on the anvil, says Pune mayor
The new parking policy calls for marking streets and spaces to be used as parking lots which will be charged by the civic body
PUNE Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol, who took charge on November 22, 2019, has said that a decision on implementing the pilot project of the new parking policy which was approved in 2018, is on the anvil.
Mohol and Pune municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao held a meeting with top civic officials in the last week of December. It was decided at this meeting that the policy would be implemented soon, at least as a pilot project on some major roads.
“The mayor has responded positively to implement the policy. It has been pending for a long time but no concrete decision was taken as yet so we could not implement it,” an official who attended this meeting said.
The new parking policy calls for marking streets and spaces to be used as parking lots which will be charged by the civic body. Although the administration has already given a list of around 37 roads including FC road, JM road, Gokhale road, Dhole Patil road, Koregaon park road, MG road, among others it was not implemented as the final decision was to be taken at an all-party committee meeting chaired by the mayor.
Political parties had shown unwillingness to implement the policy.
Vijay Kumbhar, right to information (RTI) activist, said, “Proposals related to pay and park have been recommended multiple times and they have also been halted multiple times because no political party wants to implement it. The issue of parking can be resolved by increasing public transport and discouraging private vehicle use.”
Mohol said, “We will soon implement the policy. In the recent meeting we did have a positive discussion and we will select at least 7-8 roads in the next meeting where the policy could be implemented as a pilot project.”
A civic official engaged with this policy said that roads have been selected and bifurcated into various categories including commercial, residential, rural and urban.
“Earlier due to the elections no decision was taken. Now that the elections are over we hope the policy would be implemented soon,” he said.
Parking rates under new policy
As per the new parking policy, residents will need to pay the parking fee for two-wheelers, as well as night charges. The minimum parking fee for two-wheelers is Rs 2 per hour and maximum Rs 4 per hour. The minimum parking fee for four-wheelers is Rs10 per hour and the maximum is Rs 20 per hour. This met with resistance from politicians since the 2019 Lok Sabha and state elections were scheduled for this year.
No directives from state government says official
Additional city engineer and Parking policy in-charge Shriniwas Bonala said, “No directive has been received from the state government to implement the parking policy as approved by the general body.”
He said the PMC general body had given a nod for the parking policy and instructed that five roads be selected to execute it on a pilot basis. The responsibility of selecting these five roads was given to the mayor and all-party leaders. “We are waiting for a nod from the mayor and party leaders,” he said.
