Now, fine for illegally parked vehicles on streets at night

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will slap fines worth Rs 1,000 on cars that are parked illegally on city roads at night.

There are more than 4,000 roads spreading over 144 wards in the city which are maintained by the KMC.

The Mayor-in-Council members in their meeting which was presided over by Mayor Sovan Chatterjee had okayed the proposal. It was subsequently cleared by the Councillors in the monthly meeting.

They will put a sticker on the windshield and fix a clamp on the wheels of the vehicles that are parked illegally on the roads. The KMC will remove the sticker and the clamp once the owner pays the fine. However, the owners will be allowed to park their vehicles at night against a monthly payment of parking fees of Rs 400. Currently, owners of many mini and private buses and commercial vehicles pay Rs 400 per month to the KMC for parking their vehicles on the streets at night. Night parking will be allowed from midnight to 6 am.

The KMC officials and staff will conduct raids on the main thoroughfares as well as in lanes and by-lanes to stop unauthorised parking. The step has been taken as despite repeated requests, those who park vehicles on the streets at night have refused to pay night parking fees and legalise the same. Earlier, the traffic wing of city police used to conduct raids at night and tow vehicles that were parked on the streets illegally. But the drives used to be conducted occasionally as the police did not have enough space to keep the vehicles that were picked up from the streets.

In almost all the lanes and by-lanes in South Kolkata, vehicles are parked at night illegally. Even on Harish Chatterjee Street close to the house of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and on Kalighat bridge, tens and hundreds of trucks, taxis and commercial vehicles are parked. In North Kolkata, vehicles are parked illegally on all important roads like Raja Ram Mohun Sarani, College Street, Kailash Bose Road, Vivekananda Road etc. Vehicles are parked on the APC Road, Gas Street and areas surrounding Rajabazar and Narkeldanga. Cars and buses are parked on Sarsuna Road, Jadav Ghosh Road and James Long Sarani in Behala every night.

It may be recalled that when the Left Front took over KMC in 1985, it had allowed conversion of parking lots of apartments into shops illegally and the vehicles were parked on the streets. Not only in main city (wards 1 to 100) but also in the added areas (Behala, Jadavpur and Garden Reach) which came under KMC in 1985, this illegal practice became rampant.

"Illegal night parking is a menace and we want to put an end to it. Pay proper fees and park your vehicles on the street at night," said civic officials.