Illegal parking the norm at vital spots

Mumbai: Transport minister, Mr Nitin Gadkari had asked citizens to click pictures of wrongly parked vehicles and bikes and send them to the transport department authorities. He had proposed a 10 per cent reward for them from the Rs 500 fine imposed on the owner of the concerned vehicle. The Asian Age visited busy spots in the city and discovered illegal parking at prominent spots like outside Mantralaya, the BJP office and the Police Commissonerate. While Mr Gadkari said they would add a law/provision to the Motor Vehicle Act, it may take a year.

Police vehicles parked illegally outside the Police Commissionerate.

The Motor Vehicles Bill, that intends to usher in far-reaching reforms in the transport sector, has been referred to a 24-member select committee of the Rajya Sabha in August.

Outside JJ Hospital

Mr Gadkari stumbled on this proposal after he noticed that vehicles of prominent persons were parked on the road blocking the way to Parliament. Mr Gadkari told this paper that, “I will add a (provision) in the Motor Vehicle Act, but it will take at least one year’s time approximately to implement. If you see any vehicle on the road, which is parked illegally that leads to traffic jam, you can just take the photo on your mobile and send it across to the department concerned or the police station. There will be a Rs 500 fine and 10 per cent will go to the complainant who has taken the snap.”

Outside Mantralaya, in a No Parking zone

At Mantralaya’s entrance, this paper found that lots of vehicles were parked in the non-parking zone.  One of the drivers, Bandu Kadam (38) said, “I have been told to park here by my boss, so I did.” The driver of another vehicle, which was parked outside the BJP office, called Ratanlal Singh (26) said, “Why should I move my vehicle?  We have no parking place allotted to us so where do we park our vehicles. Is there any other option. People want their vehicles to be parked near their office.”