Mumbai, May 19 (IANS) Maharashtra Minister of Transport Pratap Sarnaik on Monday said that the department is planning to soon bring in an Integrated Parking Policy for the state, especially when the problem of vehicle parking is getting worse day by day and unauthorised parking is causing traffic congestion in big cities.

He added that initially, the policy will be implemented in the area under the jurisdiction of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

Minister Sarnaik was speaking at a meeting of Municipal Commissioners of the MMRDA region. The minister said that before introducing an integrated parking policy, there should be no loopholes in terms of implementation.

“For this, it is very important to consider the suggestions and opinions of the Municipal Commissioners in the municipal areas where the traffic congestion problem has taken a severe form,” he said.

The minister said that the vehicle owner does not have their own parking system, then the relevant local self-government body needs to provide the system, and in this regard, it is the need of the hour to encourage the development of such parking spaces in the municipal areas.

“Accordingly, while preparing a parking policy for the state, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has suggested that it should be implemented effectively in the municipalities under the MMRDA,” he added.

He further said that the suggestions and feedback from the concerned officials regarding the difficulties arising due to parking problems in the municipal area and how to overcome them will be included in the upcoming parking policy.

“Every municipal corporation should design its parks and grounds in such a way that underground parking facilities are created there. The parking lot built by Thane Municipal Corporation underground is a good example of this. Also, effective implementation should be done with the help of the police administration and the motor vehicle department to remove unauthorised parking on the roads,” he said.

He further pointed out that the vehicles that have been parked on the roads for many years should be towed immediately, and the roads should be cleared.

Parking plazas should be built on the land reserved for development and facilities. For this, the parking plaza policy set up by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation should be adopted by other municipalities, so that it will help reduce the parking problem of the city in the future, asserted Minister Sarnaik.

–IANS

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