Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar Traffic Police Fails To Implement New Parking Project

In the jurisdiction of Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar (MBVV), more than 300 spaces have been designated for the parking of two-and four-wheel vehicles; however, the MBVV police have not been able to initiate the new parking project. For its failure, the traffic police department is blaming the civic body for not placing signboards at those spots.

The MBVV traffic police designated 300 parking spaces for the project in September of this year in an effort to combat illicit parking in the location.

The project has been postponed, said Prakash Gaikwad, Deputy Commissioner Of Police (Traffic), MBVV. Following discussions with the municipal corporations, a letter was sent to the public informing them that the parking spots would be allotted within 15 days.

Gaikwad said that they have done their part, and now the signboards have to be put up by the authorities of municipal corporations. A note of the measurements and heights for the signboards being erected at all the places has also been taken.

Smoother traffic in the region was impacted by the two-year suspension of the traffic management rules following the establishment of the Mira-Bhayandar and Vasai-Virar commissionerate. Residents who are calling on the government to allot parking spaces claimed that parking has turned into a nightmare for them on a number of interior roads and corridors. The absence of designated parking spots, according to the locals, caused drivers to park their two- and four-wheelers across roads and bylanes, making it impossible for other vehicles to even cross the road.

Vasai Vidhansabha Pramukh from Bhartiya Janta Party, Manoj Patil said that the civic body's Development Plan (DP) had designated areas for parking facilities, which they were required to acquire and allocate the parking allotments. Nevertheless, this did not happen and the spaces remained on paper.

The residents have alleged that after so much discussion, they are unable to see any implementation of the new parking project.

VVMC has started the process of issuing tenders, and the project is expected to start soon.

Traffic police reported that between January and August this year, a total of 2,35,459 challans were given by the police for a variety of offenses, including parking illegally.

7,963 drivers paid fines totaling up to INR 50 lakh to the police between July and August 2023 for parking illegally. Even though they have designated spots and raised awareness for the same, it is unfair to penalise commuters for parking illegally until the signs are up, Gaikwad said.

Mumbai traffic police implemented the e-challan system in 2019. The system has levied fines of INR 579 crore since its launch. As of November 2023, the total amount levied this year was INR 46 crore higher than the previous year. In 2019, the system assessed fines of INR 59.7 crore through the issuance of roughly 18 lakh e-challans. Nevertheless, COVID-19 caused e-challans to drop to 14 lakh by 2020. More than 37 lakh e-challans of INR 159.4 crore were issued in 2021. The following year, 33 lakh e-challans were received. 36 lakh challans were issued as of November 30, 2023, with fines totaling INR 205.8 crore.