The Bombay High Court has asked the state government to inform it by September 27 whether the threat perception perceived by due to parking below flyovers still continues and should this space now be made available for parking again to ease congestion on roads.
A division bench of justice VM Kanande and justice Swapna Joshi said: "Non usage of space below flyovers is complete wastage of space." The bench made this observation while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Prashant Polekar, a resident of Khar East who in his petition has claimed that citizens have been facing parking issues with the increase in number of vehicles, and that this issue should be addressed at all levels.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Uday Warunjikar argued that on a daily basis more than 1 lakh vehicles enter Mumbai city, and since they don't have proper parking space, they keep moving on roads or they park on the sides and thereby increase congestion on roads. A suggestion made by the petitioner is that only those persons who already have parking space be allowed to purchase cars. This will ensure that parking and double parking on roads is not done, he added.
Counsel for Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) informed the court that because of a previous court order, parking below flyovers was stopped and these areas were beautified. There are a total of 27 flyovers in the city and they are managed by BMC, PWD and MSRDC.
The court also inquired with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on whether it would be implementing the odd-even scheme for vehicles.
Appearing for the civic body, advocate Trupti Puranik said she would take instructions from the department concerned and place it on record on the next hearing.
As per an earlier order, the state government was told to shut parking lots below flyovers in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai. The PIL had urged the government to implement its own decision taken in the year 2008. The decision said that "for security reasons, parking under flyovers should forthwith be discontinued as there is every possibility of destruction of flyovers and the space below flyovers should be given to entrepreneurs for the purpose of beautification/landscaping and maintenance thereof."
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