Mumbai: Pay-and-park mafia make Colaba unliveable, say residents

The Clean Heritage Colaba Residents Association CHCRA has written to the joint commissioner of police traffic highlighting the growing menace of double parking in south Mumbai The association claimed that law enforcement officials have become mere bystanders adding that the lsquoColaba quadranglersquo including Boman Kawasji Boman Behram BKBB Marg and the bylanes of Garden Road Henry Road J A Allana Road Walton Road and P Ramchandani Marg up to and beyond BEST Marg is in a state of total disarrayIn addition to highlighting the chaos caused by double parking the association specifically pointed out the reckless highspeed driving of food delivery riders in the Colaba area It alleged that under the cover of double parking the footpaths in the area are plagued with defecation and discarded garbage is frequently seen on the streets after people consume food beverages and alcoholDouble parking in the paynpark area at BEST Marg right Behind Taj hotel on Mereweather RoadldquoThe problems are perennial and now have gone beyond acceptable limits across the aforementioned roads and need your urgent and immediate intervention and action as they are leading to rampant violations of law and order as well as traffic noise pollution air pollution and other unruly elements frequenting the area abandoning of vehicles private taxis operating as regular vehicles parked for days and months more specifically on Garden Road Walton Road and BKBB Marg This is congesting the entire area and inconveniencing local residents as well as those frequenting the areas for few hours Additionally there are mobile hawkers vending tea and coffee defecation of the footpathssidewalks by drivers and also throwing of garbage on streets after consuming food and beverages including alcoholrdquo reads the complaint letter submitted to Mumbai traffic policeThe association lamented that Colaba has become the most affected area because of the double parking menace and illegal hawkers in residential areas ldquoThere is constant double parking on BKBB Marg and it worsens late in the evening It appears the violators are in cohort with law enforcing authoritiesrdquo the president of CHCRA Subhash Motwani told middayThe association has told the traffic police that all lsquono parkingrsquo signage boards have been uprooted from BEST Marg by lsquopaynparkrsquo attendants and both sides of roads are illegally occupied by double parked vehicles removed when a VIP is visiting Taj Mahal Palace Hotel The main culprits are the paynpark attendants who keep bunches of keys with them and double park vehicles This nuisance has now extended to P Ramchandani Marg as wellMotwani further alleged that the paynpark attendants use these upscale areas as open valet areas and double park vehicles to collect huge sums of money especially on BEST Marg P Ramchandani Marg BKBB Marg and the bylanesrdquoIt is a nuisance for local residents especially senior citizens as vehicles once removed cannot get parking spaces easily as most spaces are usurped by outside vehicles including appbased cabs and blackandyellow cabs whose drivers instead of parking in designated zones park for weeks or months in the parking spaces of regular vehicles and are rarely penalized However residential vehicle owners are penalised even if they stop to pick and drop senior citizensrdquo Motwani lamentedldquoShockingly if double parked vehicles handled by the paynpark attendant are penalised the charges are reversed immediately whereas lawabiding citizens are fined R1500 for a pickup or drop in order to meet the target of the traffic department All this happens less than 100 metres from the Colaba police station and even traffic police constables are often seen having a cup of tea with the regular private taxi driversrdquo he addedldquoThere is no accountability and the whole area is a mess At times this goes on till the wee hours of the night when valet parking and paynpark attendants even drive in the wrong direction to park vehicles which sometimes block corners of bylanes Shockingly the attendants know which vehicle belongs to which resident and this is a serious safety and security issue as wellrdquo he addedldquoThe paynpark scheme should be discontinued in the area as it is a big racket It has proven to be more of a nuisance and has made the whole area totally chaotic and unliveable apart from being a serious security issue Traffic constables are rarely seen as it is a large expanse of space to cover with a couple of constables and in most cases they tend to overlook double parking violations for reasons best known to themrdquo Motwani informed midday He stressed that in case of an emergency in the area it would be a serious issue due to the chaos ldquoThe situation gets worse during weekendsrdquoMeanwhile vice president of CHCRA Pervez Cooper said ldquoStarting from Cafe Mondegar lane outside and at the rear side of Taj hotel and outside Hotel Diplomat along Merewether Road B K Boman Behram Road up to Arthur Bunder Road BEST Marg and Ramchandani Marg seaside the area is completely controlled and dominated by the paynpark mafia Because of these attendants double parking is rampant with the traffic cops behaving like mere spectatorsrdquoIn their twopage complaint letter to the joint CP traffic on Wednesday the association has further alleged that the other lanes and bylanes have serious issues such as entry violations and there have been instances of senior citizens being knocked off especially by speeding twowheelers coming in the wrong direction and entering lsquono entryrsquo lanes Electric scooters without number plates are also ridden at high speed These mostly belong to food delivery apps and local shops Also most of these riders park on the footpath taking over walking spaceA senior officer in Colaba traffic division told midday that they have been taking action against motorists violating the rules ldquoWe have also written to civic officials to reinstall the boards removed by civic officials during repair workrdquo