Mumbai parking policy: BMC did not use its head to tow, say activists

The BMCs new parking policy has come under fire once again this time over towing contractors Activists have alleged that the civic body has not appointed its own towing agency and is using a contractor chosen by the traffic police to whom they will now have to pay a part of the hefty towing charge for every vehicle fined The police used to charge Rs 400 for the same task while BMC is currently charging Rs 2500 under the policy as towing chargesSince July 7 BMC started the implementation of its new controversial parking policy under which those parking vehicles on the roads within a 500metre radius of 28 public parking lots PPL would be charged with hefty fines The decision has been met with serious criticism from various corners with some south Mumbai residents even mulling approaching the courtAlso ReadParking drive nosedives BMC starts clamping cars clogs roadsNo new contractorsHowever before implementing the policy BMC forgot to appoint its own contractor for towing penalised vehicles It is instead relying on a controversial contractor appointed by the traffic police Now the ward officers have been asked to use vehicles from BMCs removal of encroachment department if the traffic policeappointed contractor is unavailableBefore implementing the policy BMC forgot to appoint its own contractor for towing penalised vehicles File picNone of the ward offices have so far appointed any new contractors Civic officials said whenever the scope of action increases the machinery will be increased accordinglyFurther complicating matters BMC did not discuss any payment of towing charges with the traffic police before using its services claiming that it was a joint action and no money was involvedBut traffic cops say the civic body will have to pay the contractor for their services Joint commissioner traffic Madhukar Pandey said We are providing them BMC with the requirements whenever they ask but BMC will have to bear the charges for whatever services of the contractor are being utilised Those charges are not being borne by the traffic police With this the contractor appointed by the traffic police will now be in a winwin situation pointed out activists They also claimed that the towing charges under the new policy are Rs 2500 for shifting a vehicle within a radius of just 500 meters when the Mumbai police charges Rs 400 for the same taskAlso ReadSouth Mumbai residents to sue BMC over new parking fee regimeHelping the contractorActivists have alleged the heavy towing charges will now go to the existing contractor because civic officials did not float new tenders for new contractors South mumbai resident and activist Dr Nilesh Baxi saidUnder the Rs 10000 fine the division is Rs 7500 for the penalty and Rs 2500 for towing charges Cops used to charge Rs 400 for the same The contractor appointed by the traffic police was about to wind up operations as they were running into losses Suddenly they get a breather Has this entire decision been taken to harass the citizens and help the contractorTransport expert Jitendra Gupta said The towing charges are absurd and very high We do not understand why the contractors should benefit out of this move BMC has no power to take action and without even developing its own infrastructure it is depending on the traffic polices mechanism to do so The traffic polices contractor is marred in controversy but still BMC wants to help themMeanwhile the civic body has said that there is no connection between BMC and the traffic police contractor and the allegations are baseless Rubbishing the allegations a senior civic official said The action has been taken in coordination with the traffic police and thus we have no idea about who the contractor is and what charges are to be paid to them as there was no formal discussion about the sameAdditional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal said If the charges are demanded we will accordingly pay but for now the action is being carried out in coordination with the traffic police The towing charges collected from citizens will be utilised by wards for developmental worksMeanwhile after continuous opposition Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi on Wednesday gave instructions to focus on penalising commercial and heavy vehicles more than the regular four and twowheelers The illegal parking penalties for heavy motor vehicles are between Rs 15000 to Rs 23250 and for medium motor vehicles are Rs 11000 to Rs 17600Also ReadMumbai Park your cars at these BMC designated parking lots to avoid hefty finesRs 75kAmount of penalty from the R10k fineRs 25kTowing charges from the R10k fineRs 400Amount charged by cops for towingTowing chargesRs 5000 Heavy vehiclesRs 3300 Medium motor vehiclesRs 2500 Light motor vehiclesRs 1100 ThreewheelersRs 700 TwowheelersAlso ReadBJP opposition corporators parking mad at BMC over new policyRelief for G South wardResidential areas around PPL will soon get some relief with the G South ward office putting up a proposal to give discounted rates to residents of Senapati Bapat Marg The ward office will be charging 50 percent less pay and park amount for one vehicle behind one house The residents have been crying foul over the penalties and Shiv Sena corporators have demanded reducing pay and park rates by 50 percent for locals residing within 500 meters of PPLs Sena corporator Samadhan Sarvankar said The local residents of G south ward who stay near the PPLs can pay a reasonable amount We have put forth our demand in front of the municipal commissioner and he has agreed to it It will be implemented soonAction against 96 vehiclesOn Friday BMC took action against 96 illegally parked vehicles across the seven zones of the city It released 74 vehicles that had been in its possession for the past few days and earned R602350 from the penalties charged on those vehicles Further BMC still has 117 vehicles in their possession as the owners have not come to take them backAlso ReadMumbai SoBo residents protest BMCs new fine tuned no parking chargesCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates