For Mumbaikars, finding a spot to park their cars is nothing short of fighting a battle. The BMC has tried to curb this problem by providing as many as 26 authorised parking spaces in this city. However, many motorists ignore the parking spaces and chose to park illegally in the vicinity of the parking space. Many a time, this is done to save up some money that you would have paid as parking charges, however, now, this mistake could prove to be an expensive affair. The civic body has listed out fines for people parking within a 500-metre radius of these parking spaces and the fines can go as high as INR 23,250 for heavy motor vehicles.
The BMC will be charging a fixed towing charge plus a minimum fine for every category of vehicle. Now if you were to collect your vehicle the same day it gets towed, there would be no late payment fine implemented, however, a daily fine would be applied, in case you do not pick the vehicle up the same day. The BMC has set a limit to the maximum amount of fine that can be paid, which gives us the maximum payable amount for a particular class of vehicle. While heavy motor vehicles will attract a maximum fine of INR 23,250, that of medium motor vehicles is INR 17,600, INR 15,100 for light motor vehicles, INR 12,200 for three-wheelers and INR 8,300 for two-wheelers.
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This decision was indeed at the receiving end of some criticism, as the fines are a bit too high. That said, it is this high-cost factor that will deter motorists from parking illegally, especially within a 500-metre radius of a parking lot. The Improvement Committee of the BMC had requested them to postpone the date of the implementation of this fine, allowing a discussion by the public representatives in the house. The BMC, however, did not postpone the implementation of these fines. Furthermore, the BMC has also decided to hire ex-servicemen to help the traffic police to implement and take these fines, which, considering the high cost involved, could lead to heated arguments.