Kolkata Municipal Corporation unlocks parking lots, but with riders

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the city police on Friday threw open the parking lots but no parking will be allowed in containment zones, in front of major markets and at several new blocks that had been declared no-parking zones three months ago. The parking lots will operate with the old parking fee structure.

According to civic sources, the corporation has already lost close to Rs 3.5 crore in parking fees during the lockdown.“Now that the mess left behind by Cyclone Amphan has been cleared and the city is marching towards normality with more cars and two-wheelers hitting the road, there is no reason why parking lots cannot begin operations,” said an official. KMC earns nearly Rs 20 crore a year from parking lots.
The traffic police said its men would be helping commuters in parking their cars.
“Some commuters were parking their cars around central Kolkata for the past few weeks but that was unregulated. Now, we have discussed with KMC and fixed the exact parking spots. Anyone facing any trouble while parking can approach the nearest cop or call us at Lalbazar traffic headquarters. We have instructed police stations not to allow cartels to control parkings according to their whims and fancies,” said an officer.
Sources said illegal parking, especially in the Burrabazar-Posta area, along with Park Street-Camac Street-Short Street and Mirza Ghalib Street, which are close to containment zones, will attract penalties.
“We are opening the parking lots in phases on a need basis. Parking lot staffers have been asked to follow all social distancing norms and wear masks,” a KMC official stated.
Several new areas, especially in the added areas in the south and spots closer to markets and slums with Covid history, have been marked as no-parking zones. This is the first time that so many roads from the added areas have gone out of bounds for parking, said a Lalbazar source. Among the areas that have been specifically chosen are Kasba, Haltu, Topsia, Tollygunge, New Alipore, Behala, Naktala and Thakurpukur.
Joint CP (traffic) Santosh Pandey said the move is also aimed at ensuring that fee-parking spaces are specifically identified (as against no-parking spots) after the KMC said it wanted to introduce parking fees at specific parking lots in these areas. “This is not a sudden decision. We have weighed the pros and cons before taking this step,” he said.
Among the major roads that have been earmarked as no-parking zones are the Park Circus Connector, Prince Anwar Shah Road, Deshapran Sasmal Road (between Tollygunge Club and Jubilee Park Road), NSC Bose Road (between Tollygunge and Ranikuthi), Haltu Main Road and DPS School Road in Kasba and Baisnabghata Patuli Road.
Almost all Behala roads have been declared no-parking zones — particularly Diamond Harbour Road from Behala 14 Number to Thakurpukur (with concession for bus and auto stands). Other important roads here include Biren Roy Road connecting Behala Chowrasta with Greenfield City, almost the entire stretch of James Long Sarani, the entire MG Road from Siriti Crossing to Thakurpukur and ML Gupta Road.