Amid signs that the Pune municipal corporation’s proposed new parking policy is put on the back burner ahead of the polls, scrapping of the existing ‘pay and park’ scheme on a few roads has resulted in chaos at multiple places.
Earlier this year, PMC’s general body had approved the new parking policy under which the civic body was to identify five streets initially. However, anticipating backlash from citizens given the high rates for parking, PMC has delayed identifying the five streets while scrapping the existing scheme too.
The Pune municipal corporation conducted a survey on 35 roads in the city in May after which Mayor Mukta Tilak assured that the parking policy would be implemented on a pilot basis on the selected five roads by June-end.
However, the civic body has since then not taken a single step ahead in the direction of implementing the parking policy.
‘WORK IN PROGRESS’
When asked about the parking policy, Srinivas Bonala, additional city engineer and traffic planner in PMC said that the work is in progress on the proposed parking policy.
“In view of the parking policy expected to come into effect soon, we have decided to waive the charges for some time. However, the final decision on this will be taken soon,”he said.
{{/usCountry}}“In view of the parking policy expected to come into effect soon, we have decided to waive the charges for some time. However, the final decision on this will be taken soon,”he said.
{{/usCountry}}A senior PMC official requesting anonymity said, “The file that we have sent is stuck in the Mayor’s office. Unless Mayor calls for a meeting, the proposal is unlikely to go ahead.”
ELECTIONS IN MIND?
The official said that the political fraternity is delaying the implementation of the parking policy, keeping the upcoming elections in mind.
Chetan Tupe, leader of opposition in PMC accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of succumbing to pressure from its own elected representatives who are opposing the implementation of the policy citing upcoming elections.
He said, “Bharatiya Janata Party hastily announced the decision of implementing a parking policy without consulting the stake holders. However, now when the time has come to implement the policy, it is refraining from doing so with the fear of losing votes in the upcoming general elections as the voters will have to incur additional financial burden if the parking policy is implemented.”
He added, “Having said so, we don’t see any problem in implementing the policy in the city as even now there are many roads in the city where people use pay and park services. ”