BMC to hand over job of levying fine for illegal parking to Mumbai traffic police

Nearly 14 months after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started levying a fine of ₹10,000 for parking vehicles within 1-km radius of the civic body’s

Nearly 14 months after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started levying a fine of ₹10,000 for parking vehicles within 1-km radius of the civic body’s public parking lots (PPL) citing it to be ‘encroachment’, the civic body is set to hand over this job to the Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP).

HT Image

The fine amount for illegal parking was later brought down to ₹4,000 and it will remain unchanged, BMC officials said. Apart from this, BMC will also hand over towing of scrap vehicles on roads to MTP.

A year ago, former municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi had justified towing vehicles parked in ‘no parking’ areas by calling them ‘encroachment’. However, BMC now says it is overburdened owing to the Covid-19 situation and that it does not have dedicated staff for levying fines.

Pardeshi had conceptualised the idea to bring down congestion on road and promote usage of BEST buses.

A BMC official not wishing to be named said, “Our staff are overburdened since the last seven months owing to the duty relating to Covid-19. Hence, we are taking the decision to allow Mumbai Traffic Police to take over the same. The talks for the same are ongoing since last one month, and the official handover is expected to take place in the next 10 days.”

A document prepared by BMC last month, putting on record the discussion with the Mumbai Traffic Police, reads, “It was observed that the manpower at ward level of BMC for effective enforcement against vehicles parked without authorisation is inadequate. There is no dedicated wing for executing said works at ward level. On the other hand, dedicated traffic police personnel are available with the traffic police department. The said traffic police department may be assigned for taking action against vehicles parked illegally.”

BMC had started levying fine for parking within 1-km radius of civic-run PPLs and BEST bus depots in four major arterial roads including Link Road, SV Road, LBS Road and Maharshi Karve Road from July 7 last year. However, later the rules were relaxed to 500-metre radius of PPLs and the fine amount was brought down to ₹4,000.

Owing to the levying of heavy fine amount, usage of PPL had increased drastically. HT had reported on January 11 that BMC’s implementation of heavy fines for illegal parking near the 26 public parking lots (PPLs) in the city was bearing fruits.

According to the civic body data, the occupancy rate of these PPLs had increased by around 30-40% in December 2019, and in certain cases even doubled, after the imposition of heavy fines.

Sunil Sardar, deputy chief engineer of BMC’s solid waste management department (transport wing), confirmed that the fine of ₹4,000 will be levied by the Mumbai Traffic Police and the handover of the responsibilities for the same is expected to take place in the next 10 days.

Nikhil Desai, a civic activist from Matunga, said, “Citizens do not care much about which authority is levying a fine, but we expect that the implementation is done in true sense, and citizens are benefited at large.” He added, “I have been complaining about two bikes parked on footpath in my area, but BMC has not acted against them citing traffic police will do it. But handing over is not done yet. Hence, citizens will suffer until traffic police starts taking action after taking charge.”