New parking policy to come up before BMC general body today

The new parking policy for the city will be presented to the general body of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for its approval on Friday.

But the proposal is unlikely to be cleared by the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in view of the forthcoming assembly elections.

"The charges to be levied for parking in public spaces is quite steep and therefore the new policy may not see the light of day soon, at least not before the state elections," said a corporator from the opposition.

The civic body was keen to introduce the charges from November.

The proposed policy sets parking charges according to business areas which have been categorized into 'A', 'B' and 'C'. The more congested areas are covered in 'A' and the charge is the highest at Rs60 per hour. The parking fee in 'B' category areas would be Rs40 per hour. Whereas, in 'C' areas motorists will have to pay Rs20 per hour.

A 50 per cent concession rate is proposed for mass transport vehicles like taxis and autorickshaws and 30 per cent for public buses.

Residents will be issued permits that will allow them to park vehicles between 8pm and 8am at one-third the charges for regular monthly passes.

The fine for illegal parking in public spaces has been fixed at Rs50.

Those parking on a street within 100 metres of a multi-storey public lot will have to pay four times the off-street parking charges.

"Residents of old chawl buildings and slums will have to pay parking charges also," a corporator said.