South Mumbai residents to sue BMC over new parking fee regime

The residents of Walkeshwar and Napean Sea road are mulling over taking their protest against the BMCs newlyintroduced parking charges from the streets to the court The locals who hardly have any space to park vehicles now have to constantly live in fear of being slapped with a Rs 10000 fineMoreover instead of promising a solution BMC has said they will continue action against their vehicles under the policy On July 8 midday reported in SoBo residents protest BMCs new fine tuned no parking charges about how locals had protested outside the D wards office against the new policy Ward authorities had towed away nearly 10 cars on Sunday the first day of the policys implementationmiddayrsquos July 8 reportDeadline loomsAfter the car owners were slapped with a R10000 fine to release their vehicles the residents along with elected representatives and advocates met the assistant commissioner of D ward V Mote on Monday The residents pointed out that the public parking lot PPL in their area can hardly accommodate 58 vehicles when housing societies like Chandralok and others alone need a parking capacity of over 100 vehicles In such a case where should they park they asked During the discussions local BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha had asked BMC to give these residents a breather of at least three days which was agreed uponAlso ReadMumbai Citizens to face for steep parking penalties from July 7No action was taken on Monday and Tuesday said a resident of Chandralok housing society which is located on Napean Sea road but they feared that once the time is up on Thursday BMC would come for them again without helping them with any infrastructure Fearing the action residents have begun seeking legal adviceSome residents had protested outside the Chandralok housing society on SundayAction will continueMukesh Jethwa a resident and committee member of Chandralok society said We have started discussions with our advocates about what we can do in this case as paying R10000 cannot be an option We need some respite and thus knocking the doors of the court will be our only option We were told by the ward officer that we will be given all the help possible but the three days will end on Wednesday and we are worried what will happen from Thursday onwardsBMC meanwhile has promised to continue action against them Mote said There was a meeting with the residents and the elected representatives but we cannot respond to their demands I asked them to approach the higher authorities We are continuing with our actionAlso read Mumbai SoBo residents protest BMCs new fine tuned no parking chargesWorli residents protestMeanwhile on Tuesday Worli residents also protested the parking charges on Pandurang Budhkar Marg pointing out that a road that hasnt been handed over to BMC yet has noparking boards They also claimed that BMC was going charging vehicles parked beyond the 500metre mark The protest was led by the residents of the Mahalaxmi cooperative housing society who were joined by other locals Also supporting them were local NCP leaders and taxi drivers Various taxis are parked in the area and the drivers have been warned by BMC to either park in the PPLs or in the taxi stand The taxi drivers pointed out that their business will be affected if they are not on the roadsSantosh Gupta resident of Mahalaxmi housing society said A 45feetwide road near our society is yet to be handed over to BMC but they have already turned it into a no parking zone thus making it difficult for us to park Taxi drivers are facing a similar problem They are worried about their business and if a fine of such amount is levied upon them where will they go BMC is also going beyond the 500metre mark where there arent any no parking boards thus making ground to charge money from there as wellSachin Ahir former MLA and city chief of NCP said Where will the citizens who live in oneroom kitchens and one BHKs park vehicles Dont the middleclass have the right to use twowheelers or cars BMCs decision is arbitrary and is made for residents of high rises I have submitted an application to the municipal commissioner and requested him to allow free parking in BMCs parking area Once the people make a habit of it then it makes sense to start levying reasonable parking chargeCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get the latest updates