Even with parking lots, vehicles face space crunch at BKC

Finding space to park your car or twowheeler is a task say Mumbaikars In the second instalment of middayrsquos series on issues affecting the BandraKurla Complex officegoers told us that it is very difficult to find space to park onersquos car in the commercial area since the open parking lots are always full There is a multilevel car parking MLCP facility but people find its charges to highAlso read BKC needs more public transportTraffic department tows away vehicles parked illegally on the roads But drivers mostly sit inside the cars and on spotting the towing van move away They then return later to claim the spot illegally again File picThe business district is home to many offices of government companies and many national and multinational organisations There are three payandpark zones and a MLCP facility created by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority MMRDA According to the people working at BKC the three parking lots with a combined capacity of 1500 cars are filled up in no timeSteep chargesOn Monday when we visited the road outside MMRDArsquos headquarters at BKC we found cars stationed illegally beside the footpath since the parking lots had no space Drivers were seen sitting inside the vehicles A driver requesting anonymity said ldquoFinding parking in BKC is a tough task We park our car and sit inside because the parking lot is mostly full We need more parking lotsrdquoVehicles are parked illegally on the road since officegoers find the open parking lots full and the multilevel parking expensiveThe traffic police tows away vehicles parked illegally during the day but this hardly matters Drivers sitting inside simply move away on sighting the towing van and reclaim the spot after the van leaves Some say they are waiting for their boss to arriveOn the other hand the posh multilevel 800car parking facility is largely ignored less than half of it is used up The facility charges Rs 20 for the first hour for cars and for every additional 30 minutes you have to pay Rs 7 though your vehicles is safer within the confines of the building that also has CCTV cameras Yet if you park your car for a minimum of eight hours you will end up paying nearly Rs 120 every day only for parkingFor twowheelers the charge is Rs 5 for an hour and Rs 3 for every additional half hour Sagar More who visits BKC for work said ldquoThe authorities need to solve this parking issue because finding parking space that doesnrsquot cost a bomb is very difficult I come to the G Block and park on the road because MMRDA charges are very steep for its MLCPrdquoCol R S Bhandari the chief coordinator of Area Security Advisory Panel ASAP G Block Association at BKC which takes care of security measures in the area told this paper ldquoDrivers want to pocket the parking money to be paid at parking lots and thatrsquos why they park on the road We have already written a letter to the Traffic department highlighting various parking related issues in BKC and the way these issues can be addressedrdquoBhandari also called for proper signage to be installed on the main road to direct motorists towards the payandpark facilities an absence of which also contributes to cars hogging space on the road The special cycling track created by MMRDA at BKC is also used to park vehicles and motorcycles