Mumbai: BMC wants power to collect fines for parking violations

Illegally parked autos outside Borivli railway station. File pic

For better control over parking across the city, the BMC is exploring the possibility of acquiring the power to penalise motorists for unauthorised parking. While this is not a part of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, the corporation is planning to bring the penalty part under the section on Mumbai Parking Authority (MPA) that is being drafted.

Officials said the civic body is keen that the revenue is solely controlled and managed by the MPA, which may have a traffic police officer attached to the BMC to execute the penal action and fines. These powers are currently vested with the traffic department under the Motor Vehicles Act. BMC officials said citizens deserve safe and affordable parking spaces and for this reason, the need for the MPA was felt. Once formed, the MPA will be an all-encompassing body with regard to parking in Mumbai.

A panel of experts has been appointed for the formation of MPA and they have carried out tasks, including preparation of a comprehensive plan for parking management in all 24 wards, drafting a parking policy and studying parking rates, signage and markings on the roads. The experts have also recommended the creation of a ‘city parking pool', the appointment of ‘parking marshals' and giving the legal sanctity to MPA by having a separate section on it in the Mumbai Municipal Act.

While BMC can collect parking charges at authorised parking lots, it can't take action on motorists for unauthorised parking. To integrate both, the civic body has proposed that fine collection for illegal parking should be done by MPA. Earlier, the BMC attempted to impose hefty fines for illegal parking, but abruptly stopped it after drawing huge flak from motorists and experts who termed the move unlawful. mid-day had done a series of reports on BMC charging Rs 10,000 from the citizens for illegal parking. The BMC doesn't plan to continue the drive as per the suggestions of the experts associated with the MPA.

A BMC's traffic department official said, "A detailed new section in the MMC act is being drafted which will be legally scrutinised and then sent to the government for notification and it will then be added in it. We want all parking-related issues to be checked by a unanimous authority and there are no multiple people governing this. We can have police officers coming on deputation working for MPA where the law enforcement agency can still be a part of parking issues in the city but the penalty will be collected solely by MPA, which will be under the BMC commissioner but still be a unanimous body."

Rs 10k
Fine BMC had tried to impose for illegal parking