KMC struggles to curb illegal parking at night

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is struggling to curb the practice of illegal car parking at night, though the drive, which the civic body had initiated since August, is ensuring good revenues for the civic body exchequer.

"It has been found that car owners are willing to pay Rs 1000 as fine for illegal parking, rather than paying Rs 450 a month to the civic body for getting legal parking stickers. There have been a number of cases when vehicles owners have paid fines amounting to Rs 1000 twice a month for illegal parking, instead of procuring a sticker for authorised parking from us," Debasish Kumar, Member Mayor-in-Council (Parks & Gardens) said.

It has been found that a number of car owners in North and South Kolkata park their cars in narrow lanes at night.

"We have seen that owning a car is more of a trend for a few people living in the city's highrises.

With manufacturers offering EMI facilities and a little amount of down-payment, we determined that usually in a single family, both the father and son own separate cars. Two parking lots for the same family in an apartment are rare," a senior official of KMC's parking department said.

During the night drive, the KMC is penalising as many as 80 vehicle owners on a daily basis. Penalised vehicle owners were spared during the festive season (end-September to the third week of October) as the civic body had not conducted any such drives.

Since November, it has been conducted in full swing. Civic staff members clamp the wheels of vehicles that have been parked illegally. In order to get them removed, the owners have to produce Rs 1,000 as spot fine or they can pay it at the KMC offices.

The KMC has decided to promote awareness by telling owners to legally park their vehicles.