Mumbai: No parking 100m around city malls

Oberoi mall in Goregaon East. Pic/ Satej Shinde

After setting up on-street parking on five stretches in the city, the Mumbai Parking Authority (MPA) is trying to decongest roads leading to malls by prohibiting parking within a 100-m radius of them. They have roped in 13 malls across the city to allow private vehicle owners to use the mall parking lots, instead of parking on the road.

The Mumbai Traffic Police have issued a notification declaring the no-parking zones while the system, being implemented in phases, will be functional this week.

Participating malls include Palladium in Lower Parel, Star Mall in Dadar, K Star Mall in Chembur, Atria Mall in Worli, CR2 in Nariman Point, Oberoi Mall in Goregaon, R City Mall in Ghatkopar, among others. Vehicles can be parked in the mall parking lots during the day on weekdays and at night throughout the week.

Shishir Joshi, advisory member of the MPA and founder of Project Mumbai, said that apart from private vehicles, the rule will also apply to auto-rickshaws and taxis. "The response from mall owners has been encouraging and the parking slots, once added to the city's car-parking pool, will increase options," said Joshi. He added that while the parking fee will be decided by mall owners, they have been instructed to keep the tariff reasonable and not use the opportunity to generate revenue.

The initiative was discussed on Saturday in the first review meeting held by the committee set up after former IAS officer Gautam Chatterjee was brought on board to replace former IAS officer Ramanath Jha. "We have to identify areas that need to be decongested. When we clear a road of parking, we displace vehicles and should be aware that vehicles need alternative arrangements. We'll try to identify more such areas to free-up space," said Chatterjee.

Mark and Spencer mall in Bandra. Pic/ Atul Kamble

Madhukar Pandey, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said that the initiative will cover other malls in the city and areas that experience traffic congestion. "No-parking notifications were issued to 13 malls between July and September this year. Boards were put up at some of them and at other places they are in process. We have started taking action as per the MV (Motor Vehicles) Act. We are also in the process of identifying limits and issuing notifications for eight to 10 more malls," said Pandey. He added that public vehicles such as existing bus stands, auto stands and taxi stands within these limits will not be affected.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Vijay Singhal said that the implementation will be done together by the Traffic Police and the civic body. "We will execute this with the help of traffic police. Civic officials will also be present in the selected areas. Offenders will have to pay a fine of Rs 10,000," he said.

Participating malls

Star Mall, Dadar
Nakshatra Mall, Dadar
CR 2 Mall, Nariman Point
City Centre Mall, Nagpada
Atria Mall, Worli
Palladium Mall, Lower Parel
K Star Mall, Chembur
R City Mall, Ghatkopar
Infinity Mall, Andheri west
D Mart Shopping, Mulund
Oberoi Mall, Goregaon
Mark and Spencer mall, Bandra
Hub Mall, Goregaon

Rs 10k
Fine to be imposed on offenders

13
No. of participating malls

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