Mumbai: Bandra East society accused of illegally reserving public road parking

Signboards restricting parking put up on the wall along the road. PICS/MADHULIKA RAM KAVATTUR

A private society in Bandra East's Kalanagar has put up ‘No parking/Parking only for residents' signboards, leading to other residents of the area saying the move is unfair. In December last year, the Bombay High Court passed a judgment saying that private societies cannot block access to public roads. Locals in the area, citing this, are asking the Mumbai Traffic Police to take action, but claim that the cops have not responded to their requests.

The stretch of road that the society has claimed

According to local resident Parag Risbud, the "no parking" signboards have been up since a month, and three roads get affected because of this, namely, Dharmadhikari Road, Madhusudhan Kalelkar Road, and Jagat Vidya Marg.

Official Speak

mid-day contacted the Mumbai Traffic Police regarding why no action had been taken, and to know what action would be taken, but no response was received at the time of going to press.

A board that has been attached onto a no parking sign that says ‘Parking only for residents'

Local Speak

Parag Risbud, resident
‘The society is off Dharmadhikari Road, which already has many vehicles parked on it throughout the day. But the society has put up ‘residents only' parking stickers, which has led to more of a frenzy as no one wants to park there and get into an issue with the society. Hence, several visitors and commercial vehicles park in other lanes, which are already packed with vehicles. Previously, there was a system of odd-even parking, with boards for both every 200 meters. But now all boards have been marked ‘no parking'. If every society starts claiming roads as their own, no one will be able to park anywhere.'

‘Scary experience'

A visitor to the area
‘Due to these no parking boards, I had to park my vehicle in another lane parallel to this one. Returning to my vehicle late at night after visiting my friends, I encountered several dogs in the area that started barking at me… it was a very scary experience.'