Mumbai: Parking row rumpus at swish Ridge Road

The banners claim it is harassment. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

It is not just the mercury that is at an all-time high. Tempers have been flaring in upscale Malabar Hill area of south Mumbai, especially since the past three days. Many residents of B G Kher Marg/Ridge Road claimed that they "have been parking their cars on the road outside their buildings since decades", but now, the locals have been told they will not be allowed to park their cars on the road.

Harassment

Residents stated collectively, "Most of us have been residing in the area since the past 50 years or more. We have been parking our cars on this fairly broad road. Earlier, there were a number of signboards on the stretch indicating ‘no parking for tourist vehicles', but parking for residents was allowed. Earlier this month, these signboards were removed and we were told that we, too, could not park our cars on this road. This has led to huge inconvenience to senior citizens and is tantamount to harassment."

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Some banners are a window to the sentiment on Ridge Road

Simmering

Tension simmered through the past weekend and on late Sunday, several locals were out with banners which encapsulated the overall mood. time Most of these banners read: ‘Please stop harassment. Allow parking on Ridge Road.' Several residents said these were removed by authorities late Monday morning, but they have recourse to social media to highlight their perspective. A resident said, "There are so many old buildings with limited parking here. The nearest government-authorised parking spaces provided are far. This is a hill. Residents cannot walk up steep slopes after parking their vehicles in these authorised parking lots."

Challans

Though things have come to a boil since the past four days, the problem has been simmering for a while. Locals accuse the cops of, "issuing challans to parked vehicles to the tune of Rs 1,500 for ‘obstruction of traffic', locking the tyres, towing vehicles or using loudspeakers to move vehicles creating nuisance anytime there is anticipated VIP movement, which has become extremely frequent." Residents say that this is "unjustified" and they have got challans to the tune of thousands of rupees. There is a petition started on change.org which is headlined: ‘stop unwarranted e-challans in Mumbai without proper grievance redressal mechanism' though this is not confined to the area but the larger issue.

Solution?

The residents are now looking for a meeting with the Joint CP (Traffic) Pravin Padwal for a solution. A local though said angrily, "A senior police official said he will try to facilitate this meeting but we will keep getting challans if we park, even till the meeting is fixed. This is ridiculous." Another local asked, "Our parked cars do not ‘obstruct' traffic. Do they want to make this road into an airstrip, where aeroplanes can take off and land and that is why it should be kept completely clear?"

‘Traffic has increased'

P Padwal Jt. CP (Traffic) was firm as he stated, "Roads are not meant for parking. They are meant for the movement of traffic. B G Kher Marg is a single-lane road, one car can move on each side. A parked vehicle standing there means that traffic on that side of the road comes to a standstill. This is a very important road. We cannot allow parking; only emergency vehicles will be allowed to be parked. Locals say they have been parking on this road for 40 years and more. Yet, 40 years ago, there was not as much traffic, now, it has increased manifold. The citizens will have to make some other provision for parking. Each family here has two or three cars. They can explore if stack parking can be done in their building compound. We are not going to allow parking on important roads like Nepean Sea Road, Walkeshwar or B G Kher Marg."

16 April
Day when locals began displaying banners