KMC launches app to curb illegal parking in the city

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has launched an app to curb illegal parking in the city which has become a menace in the recent past.

The app will enable the civic body in instant identification and registration of violation cases.

“The illegal parking mobile app which will be linked with the state Transport department and Kolkata Police will contribute to capturing vehicle details of violators and generate instant demand for penalty. The offender will get 7 days time to cough up the penalty and on non-payment, legal proceedings will be initiated,” Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said on Saturday during the official launch of the app.

The illegal parking penalty will be Rs 1000. Hakim added that the illegal parking app will relieve the on-field parking officials from the hassle of clamping of vehicles that requires physical effort and manpower that often plagues the Parking department of the civic body.

Elaborating on the advantages of the mobile app, a senior KMC official said that the app is equipped with capturing the latitude-longitude of the place of illegal parking and images of the parked vehicle.

As soon as an inspector uploads the image of an illegally-parked vehicle, the details of the vehicle owner can be immediately accessed as the app is linked with the Vahan Portal of the Transport department. This will lead to on the spot demand generation.

“An SMS will be sent to the vehicle owner regarding violation, demand and payment along with the payment link. Online payment can be done from the comfort of the home,” he added.

Illegal parking particularly during night time has become a menace in the city and the conservancy workers have been facing great difficulty in executing their work properly because of this.

The app will also enable all successful collections to be pushed to cloud for reconciliation and reporting.