Mumbai maps 43 pay-and-park sites as enforcement expands

Forty-three authorised pay-and-park locations across Mumbai are now searchable on Google Maps as Mumbai Traffic Police and the BMC step up action against unauthorised parking.

Joint teams are focusing first on Crawford Market, Mahapalika Junction, Metro Junction and Mohammed Ali Road, where parked vehicles and blocked footpaths can slow traffic and force pedestrians onto the carriageway. About 60 personnel from the Kalbadevi, Pydhonie and Azad Maidan traffic divisions have been assigned in two shifts, with towing vans ready to remove vehicles.

The drive also covers Chembur, Dadar, Maitri Park, MG Road and the area near Mulund railway station. Teams are checking vehicles parked on footpaths outside Metro stations.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyanarayan Chaudhary said police acted in more than 11 lakh illegal-parking cases over the past nine months, largely through e-challans. Some cases were registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Several of the mapped parking facilities had remained shut for four to six years because of inadequate lighting and other basic infrastructure. The BMC has also removed abandoned vehicles, illegally parked taxis, roadside goods and handcarts from affected stretches, alongside pothole repairs.