Mumbai: Colaba army quarters face nightmare due to illegal parking

In a case of illegal parking and problems caused by it, Army quarters in Colaba is battling illegal parking in the vicinity. A senior army man has alleged that his repeated complaints to the authorities over the problem has fallen on deaf ears. Lt Col Shonu Bhadoria said he has made several complaints to the civic body, the traffic police as well as the local police against a person running a garage in the area and parking tens of vehicles illegally on a narrow road, leading to traffic congestion, but no action has been taken.

Lt Col Shonu Bhadoria's complaint talks about the garage on Pasta lane in Colaba, operating in a residential area already having one-way traffic due to the narrow Cawasji Marg. The garage operations include repairs of accident vehicles, paint jobs and modification of imported cars. The owner has allegedly parked 15-odd vehicles of his customers on the narrow public road, which has been leading to traffic jams and inconveniencing residents and their visitors. At times, the garage owner even takes over residents' parking slots for his customers' vehicles by placing blockades and bikes. Bhadoria alleges and adds that, when requested to remove the blockades and bikes, he (garage owner) misbehaves and threatens residents using foul and abusive language.

"The vehicle repairs are carried out on the public road by his mechanics, who keep testing horns and engines and do other jobs, from 9 am to 9 pm, making unbearable noise and causing traffic jams and parking problems for the locals," he said. The army officer also alleged that when he complained to the local traffic police, they (police) sent their people, who issued a few fines and towed away some cars, but after a few hours, all vehicles were back and parked there again.

"We also approached DCP (zone I) Abhishek Trimukhe, who called his Colaba PI, who called the garage owner and fined him, but no permanent solution has been served," said Bhadoria. When contacted, a police officer merely said, "When we received their complaint, we fined the owners of the vehicles parked illegally in that location."

Also Read - Mid-Day Campaign: Here Is What Ails Footpaths Outside Two Major City Hospitals

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates