Mumbai: Unused parking lot has space for 900 cars

An ongoing legal battle has kept residents of Worli, especially that of Worli Naka and around, away from 900 parking spaces. Developer Kasliwals who are developing the Shree Ram Mills into an ultra-luxury Palais Royale had also availed the public parking lot facility under Development Control Rules 33(24) of 1991. However, as per the BMC records, although the work of parking is completed, the matter is in the Supreme Court.

Residents say that if this bit of parking lot is made available to them, then the streets will become free from illegal parking that they are forced to do because of lack of availability of parking lots in the area.

The closest parking lot that residents can avail services of is the one that was handed over to BMC by another developer and that too they claim is at least a kilometre from Worli Naka.

Manoj Singh, a resident of Worli Naka area says, "The roads here are very narrow, people park on either side which further congests the narrow road. The buildings are old, people do not have enough parking in them and hence they end up clogging up the streets. If the 900 parking lots that are meant for public parking are made available it will surely solve many of our issues."

The developer, on the other hand, says that he isn't at fault and instead if the parking lots are used, the situation will better on this side of the city. Vikas Kasliwal, of Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd said, "We have constructed a public parking lot for over 900 cars which are lying ready since 2012. It is an independent building having its own separate access to the public road. Owing to motivated PILs (sponsored by builders), the MCGM has not taken over the public parking lot. Once it is put to use, it will go a long way in relieving pressure on the traffic on Tulsi pipe road/ Lower Parel by providing ample parking for cars/ tempos/ 2-wheelers on Ganpatrao Kadam marg."

The developer claims that he hasn't even used the FSI that one gets for constructing public parking and handing over to the BMC.

"It is apathy of officers of the BMC, that they don't do enough to take parking lots from the builders. The parking lot is a necessity of the people, no one like to park their costly vehicle on the road where the chances of damage are higher, " said Kishori Pednekar, local corporator. She added, "We don't oppose fine for illegal parking but BMC should do its duty first to provide enough parking."

Kasliwal has been in trouble for quite some time now. a month ago, the developer's property Palais Royale was put on auction by Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited for Rs Rs 667.92 crore earlier this month.

Do you agree with excessive fines for violations?

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation recently came up with a plan to impose heavy fines in relation to parking. From July 7 onwards, it said that BMC would levy fines between Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 if vehicles are parked within a one-kilometre radius from pay and park areas. The rule was to be applicable mainly to arterial roads that the civic body looked to free up. The idea was to give sufficient space for the BEST buses, whose fleet the corporation looks to increase, and smoother traffic movement. The idea did not have many takers. Corporators opposed the plan stating that the idea was unjust when the citizens were not provided with enough parking space before such hefty fines could be levied. It also came to light that the corporation has not just failed to recover parking plots from developer to whom they provided extra FSI for same, they also did not activate all the parking lots that they were provided. The BMC had expected 79 parking lots from the developers of which only 26 were handed over. 

(Ashok Datar, Bhaskar Prabhu, Pratik Kedar, Pradeep Fofani, Naresh Gaddam, Kamlakar Shenoy)

I think the excessive fine is intended to shock people. They want to surprise citizens as this is not a functional way in which they can go about. Some people, after purchasing a car, think that they can park it anywhere. Instead of educating people they are going in for shock education. I feel if they strictly implement the fine amount after providing for enough parking space, even three-figure fine is sufficient. Provided they implement it properly.  

—Ashok Datar, Traffic analyst

They will be promoting corruption by implementing hefty fines. They are not doing anything about removing encroachments from the road. There are rules and fines even today but it is not implemented. Just like citizens, the public servant should also be made accountable. Else they will allow illegal parking by fixing a lesser bribe amount as compared to the fine amount and the rich will get away with corruption and illegal parking while the poor common man will be at loss.” 
—Kamlakar Shenoy, activist/resident of Mazgaon

Unless and until they (BMC)make provision for parking, they should not charge exorbitant fines. They made a provision for heavy vehicles in Wadala. However, that truck terminal is not functional as it should be. There is no parking provision for SRA buildings. Even traffic police have a provision of cancelling building plans when there is no provision for parking. 
—Bhaskar Prabhu, Former member of BMC’s technical advisory committee 

I don’t agree with increasing the parking fine. The government should focus on pothole-free roads rather than increasing fine. Increase in fine will surely increase in corruption. Current fine by RTO for bikes is Rs 250, which is affordable. If it increases, the offender will rather pay the unbilled amount leading to corruption. Daily I go to office by bike and I am paying Rs 500 monthly. It is not worth it. There are no free parking spaces in my office area at Vile Parle.”
—Naresh Gaddam, Resident of Andheri 

I think corruption has gone up since the government has revised fine amount for not wearing helmets from Rs 100 to Rs 500. Rather than increasing the no parking charge, the government should send a legal notice to the vehicle owner who has parked their vehicle in the no-parking zone as a warning letter. If the vehicle owner does not apologize with the fine that is Rs 200, then the owner’s licence should be suspended for a few weeks.”
—Pratik Kedar, resident of Borivali 

There are no spaces in South Mumbai for parking and parking charges are as high as Rs 80-100 for a full day. It means that citizen spends nearly  Rs 3,000 of their monthly salary for parking which may not be about work. Instead of increasing the fine amount, they should allot more parking space to the public. The civic body must first focus on providing sufficient parking spaces to the public.
—Pradeep Fofani, Resident of Tardeo