Mumbai: Group leaders want boundary of no parking zone to be 500 metres

Though the BMC administration is keen on levying fines of up to Rs 10,000 for illegal parking in the periphery of one kilometre from the nearest civic parking lot, all-party group leaders on Saturday opposed the move and asked the administration to reduce the periphery of 'no parking zone' to 500 metres from the nearest parking lot.

The decision is supposed to come into effect from July 7. The group leaders meeting is an informal way to discuss important issues before the general body meeting where the proposal gets the final nod from corporators. Mayor chairs the group leaders meeting where commissioner, additional commissioners and group leaders of all political parties were present.

The administration officials discussed the proposal in the meeting on Saturday. But public representatives expressed their concern. One of the group leaders said, "We don't oppose the whole proposal, but we want the boundary of 'no parking zone' to be in the range of 300 to 500 metres." The corporators haven't demanded a reduction in the cost of the fine.

According to the corporators the decision has taken in a hurry and will not yield result. Corporators across the party lines already opposed the move of hefty fine in the House on June 24 and were demanded to approve the proposal in general body meeting.

The corporators blamed the civic administration for not developing enough parking spaces and the decision of hefty fine was taken without consulting with the public representatives. As per the official data from the BMC, there are 146 parking lots across the city with 34,808 parking capacity out of which around 3,000 are for two-wheelers.