Mumbai: Finally no illegal parking at Kandivli, Lokhandwala

A road in the area has been drastically narrowed down owing to illegally parked autos

After several meetings and tendering process, the Lokhandwala residents in Kandivli will finally get relief from the illegal parking menace. The BMC is in process of allowing parking on five out of ten roads in the area and is also looking for a contractor to undertake parking for the remaining roads.

On August 2, mid-day had reported about the parking and traffic issue faced by the residents of Lokhandwala in Kandivli East. While many of the buildings are new and have enough parking spaces on their premises, the narrow lanes in the area are usually packed with three-wheelers and heavy vehicles such as trucks, tempos from surrounding areas like Damu Nagar, Kranti Nagar and Hanuman Nagar. After the locals requesting the corporator, ward office and the traffic police, a few meetings took place in July and August. Following this, the administrative officers from R central ward came up with a solution to implement pay and park system.

Accordingly, BMC invited tenders in the last week of July but did not get the desired response. "The BMC has a fix occupancy rate card to allot the parking lots. But in a residential area, very few parking lots got 80 per cent occupancy during the day and 40 per cent in the night. So contractors are reluctant to pay," said one of the officers in the BMC.

Also read: Mumbai: Now, pay for parking on these roads in Kandivli

So while inviting the second tender, the civic body reduced the rate from 80 per cent and 40 per cent to 60 per cent in the day and 30 per cent during the night. But still, the change did not produce the desired result. "So the third time, BMC divided the ten roads into two parts and invited tender separately. So far the BMC has received a response for five roads, but nothing is finalised yet," an officer on the condition of anonymity said.

"The process is going on, but we cannot reveal any details as off now," Sanjay Kurhade, assistant commissioner of R central ward said. "We had several meetings but still, the pay and parking system has not started yet," said Surekha Patil, local corporator said.

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