After several people complained that they were unaware of the location of public parking lots in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made the information available on its mobile app, MCGM 24x7. Now, people can use the app to find directions to parking lots located within 500 m to 5 km from their homes.
Information on timings, capacity, usage fee, and parking space at depots of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking is also available on the app. However, the app does not have a feature to book parking spaces, which the BMC had promised a year ago.
On June 19, BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi had decided to implement new parking rules from July 7 to curb unauthorised parking on roadsides, decongest traffic, promote traffic discipline among car, bus and truck drivers. and encourage motorists to utilise public parking lots. The BMC then declared that a fine would be imposed on people who park their vehicles within 500 metres of the 26 designated public parking lots in the city. The BMC said illegal parking penalty of ₹15,000 will be imposed on heavy vehicles, ₹11,000 on medium-sized vehicles, and ₹10,000 on light vehicles. Owners of two- and three-wheelers would be fined a lesser amount.
Ravi Raja, Leader of Opposition in the BMC, said, “The parking rules have failed. People should have been given more time to prepare before implementing the new rules. Instead of cracking down on citizens, the BMC should take to task builders who have not handed over public parking lots despite claiming additional FSI. In some places, parking lots are located in remote areas and people will have to walk for 4 km to reach the main road. What happened to online booking of parking lots?”
A senior BMC official associated with the project said, “That [online booking] is in process. It will be the next step.”
