The Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust, that manages one of the city's busiest places of worship, has demanded from the civic body a dedicated parking space, with a capacity to accommodate 200 vehicles, for its devotees. According to the Trust, the Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi witnesses high footfalls on a daily basis which is the reason behind their demand whereas the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it is impossible to provide such a big parking space in the area.
Aadesh Bandekar, Chairman, Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust said, "On an average, the temple sees up to 2 lakh devotees every Tuesday and up to 70,000 on other days. However despite having such high footfalls, the temple does not provide its devotees with any parking space. We will meet the concerned BMC officers next week to put forth our proposal." He added, "We understand that Prabhadevi does not have a particular area to accommodate 200 vehicles but we will request the civic body to consider an upcoming construction nearby. It has a bigger parking area which the Siddhivinayak temple visitors can use," Bandekar added.
Ramakant Biradar, former G-North ward officer, said, "We already provide exclusive BEST buses from Dadar railway station to Prabhadevi. Despite facing strong resistance from hawkers near the station, we arranged for the bus service to ply every 15 minutes. Providing parking space dedicated only to the trust is difficult."
Atul Patil, BMC's Deputy Chief Engineer (Traffic), "We will check to see if there is such a big public parking lot available near Prabhadevi. But if we locate any, it will be open to all. A parking lot is available in Elphinstone Road area but it is not at a walkable distance from the temple."
Leader of BMC House, Yashwant Jadhav from Shiv Sena confirmed that members of the Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple Trust met him with their demand for a dedicated parking space. "The proposal will be taken to the concerned department," said Jadhav.
POPULAR TEMPLE
- Up to 2 lakh devotees visit the temple every Tuesday. Up to 70,000 devotees visit the temple on other days
- The temple’s trust has demanded for a parking space with the capacity to accommodate 200 vehicles
- BMC officials believe it will be difficult to provide a parking space near enough to the temple which is dedicated only to devotees
