Despite oppn from political parties, PCMC parking policy takes off at 81 spots on Day 1
For two-wheelers and three-wheelers, Rs 5 will be charged for per hour parking. Rs 10 will be charged for cars and tempos and Rs 25 for other light vehicles like mini-buses. For private buses and heavy vehicles, Rs 100 will be charged for per hour parking.
One of the pay and park spots at Pimpri chowk. (Express Photo by Rajesh Stephen)
Despite opposition from political parties and common people, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) started implementing its pay and park policy on Thursday. On Day One, it started parking lots at 81 spots.
Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Patil said, “We are going ahead with the policy. It was approved by the civic general body meeting.”
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The roads on which the policy is being implemented are Nigdi to Walhekarwadi, Aundh-Ravet Road, Old Pune-Mumbai highway, Kalewadi Phata to Dehu-Alandi, Nashik Phata to Moshi, Tilak Chowk to Big India Chowk, Nashik Phata-Wakad BRTS Road, Thergaon Gaothan Road, Prasundam Society Road, Telco Road, Spine Road and Prasudham Society Road.
For two-wheelers and three-wheelers, Rs 5 will be charged for per hour parking. Rs 10 will be charged for cars and tempos and Rs 25 for other light vehicles like mini-buses. For private buses and heavy vehicles, Rs 100 will be charged for per hour parking.
The BJP, the ruling party at the PCMC, has strongly opposed the policy. In a letter to Patil, Raju Durge, general secretary of the Pimpri-Chinchwad City district BJP unit, said, “The parking policy sought to be implemented by the civic administration will hit the common man hard. It is a wrong decision at a time when Covid-19 has made life miserable for people.”
Durge said over the past two years, residents, shopkeepers and traders have been struggling to survive. He alleged that the parking policy was nothing but an attempt to serve the contractors.
BJP Pimpri-Chinchwad President Mahesh Landge said, “We oppose the policy. It should not be implemented across the city. It should have been implemented in places where there was high commercial activity resulting in obstructions to smooth movement of traffic.”
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NCP Pimpri-Chinchwad President Sanjog Waghere said, “Petrol prices have soared and so has inflation. People are struggling to survive, but the BJP-led PCMC has decided to further cause miseries to people by asking them to pay for parking their vehicles.” Waghere added that if the decision is not withdrawn, the NCP would take to the streets.
Shiv Sena Pimpri-Chinchwad President Yogesh Babar too said the PCMC should scrap the policy, which is being implemented three years after it approved the parking policy for two-wheelers and four-wheelers.
“The parking policy got cracking today. The process of police verification of those who will run the parking lots is underway. As the process gets completed, we will set up more parking lots,” said PCMC Executive Engineer Shrikant Savane.
Savane added that these charges would be applicable 8 am to 11 pm. “At night, Rs 25 will be charged for per hour parking.”
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At night, trucks and private buses are seen parked on all major roads of the industrial city. Savane said, “Parking lots for trucks have been made at Walhekarwadi. On Telco Road too, heavy vehicles can be parked. Private buses will be parked at Kalewadi.”
Savane added: “Initially, only 80 spots will be available for pay and park. In the next six months, we will set up parking lots at all 450 spots. We will also increase the number of roads where more marking spots can come up.”
The PCMC has also made arrangements for off street parking. These parking lots are under the flyovers of Prof Ramkrishna More auditorium Chinchwad, Late Anukashrao Landge auditorium, Bhosari, Royal Glory Society, Wakad, Rahatni, Bhakti-Shakti, Nigdi, and also under Empire Estate Flyover, Chinchwad, Chapekar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar and Mudhukar Pawle flyover, Nigdi.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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