With vehicular population in the city touching an all time high and parking spaces saturating, parking is becoming an unbearable hazard with each passing day.
Mumbai traffic police, in a last ditch effort, has written a second letter to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) seeking underground and multilevel parking spaces in open areas in the city. The letter, dated Nov 5, points to the rise in number vehicles on Mumbai roads—more than 24 lakh, a 208% increase in the last 20 years.
The need of the hour is to convert all government and BMC-owned land and grounds into underground or multilevel-parking spaces to accommodate 50,000 vehicles, says the letter.
BK Upadhyay, joint commissioner of police, traffic, said: “Everyday, 450 new vehicles get registered in the city. The city does not have parking space for more than 3 lakh vehicles, making people park haphazardly. This is a major cause of traffic congestion. The number of vehicles in the city is only going to go up. It's high time open spaces are used for parking.”
Unfortunately, BMC's response to traffic police' first letter was lukewarm, forcing them to write a reminder. “In its reply to the first letter, BMC had said the proposal was not feasible,” said Upadhyay.
Traffic cops want BMC to open up 50,000 parking spaces across the city—15,000 each in South Mumbai and western suburbs, and 10,000 each in northern and eastern suburbs.
“We had already requested BMC for underground parking in Oval ground, Azad maidan and Cross maidan. We have also demanded that all open spaces in the city be used for parking purpose.
The city currently has over 800 open spaces and grounds.
According to BMC, parking is a larger issue. It also claimed a few open spaces had been converted into parking slots.
SVR Srinivas, additional municipal commissioner, BMC, said: “All open spaces cannot be utilised for parking. It's important to price parking properly. Besides, we are also looking at parking permits. We need to utilise road space optimally. We have come out with a comprehensive policy to sort out the issue which is pending with the corporation for approval. As far as traffic department's request is concerned, we will do what is practical.”
The traffic department is planning to take up the issue with higher authorities if BMC does not approve multilevel and underground parking in open spaces. “We will wait for BMC response. If it doesn't come through, I will call for a meeting with the high-powered committee and put the matter across,” said Upadhyay.
Total requirement of parking space: 50,000 (South Mumbai: 15,000; western suburbs: 15,000; northern suburbs: 10,000; eastern suburbs: 10,000.
Number of vehicles in city in 2014: More than 24 lakh (208% increase in 20 years).
Number of vehicles commuting from outside Mumbai into city limits per day: 1.5 lakh.
Vehicles registered per day: 450.
Vehicles registered in Mumbai in 2013-14: 1,86,640.
Vehicles in city in 1991: 6.28 lakh.
Two-wheelers in city in 2014: 14 lakh.
Cars in city in 2014: 7 lakh.
Motorists penalised for wrong parking so far in 2014: Over 2 lakh.
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