MMRDA shuts BKC parking lots, irks citizens

Mumbai: Office-goers in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) are angry with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), as the development authority has shut three parking lots since February 1. The MMRDA operates three parking lots in total at BKC, which have parking capacity of around 2,000 two wheelers and 1,000 four wheelers. The MMRDA is yet to appoint a new contractor for managing and operating the parking lots.

The unavailability of parking compelled office-goers to park their vehicles haphazardly on roads and footpaths in the BKC. This also resulted in BKC traffic police towing several vehicles on Wednesday and Thursday. The office-goers have also started an online campaign against MMRDA.

Lakhs of office-goers ply to BKC daily in their vehicles, as the area has many leading national and international offices in the commercial hub. Vivek Vasudev, a banker, who has been using the parking lot operated by MMRDA for seven years, said, “It becomes very difficult to park our vehicles elsewhere in the absence of these three parking. Thousands of office-going motorists park their vehicles here, as other parking lots operated by private firms are very costly. MMRDA should have managed the situation in the absence of contractor in a better way.”

Hitesh Thakkar, another office-goer who has also started a campaign online, said, “Given the lack of infrastructure and public transport facilities for travel to BKC, this affects thousands of middle-class employees working in this area. Our request is to keep parking spaces open till the new contractor is appointed.”

However, the MMRDA claims the reason behind shutting the parking lots is because starting from January, in the absence of contractor, it had kept the parking lots open for office goers to park for free. “However, this resulted in individuals illegally collecting parking charges there. Also, we are going to open them back now. Tenders were also floated a couple of days ago in order to appoint contractors for parking lots. Motorists should park their vehicles in parking lots operated by a private companies, and the issue will be solved shortly,” said Anil Wankhede, deputy metropolitan commissioner (land and estate), MMRDA.