Traffic police clamp down on illegal parking
With tow trucks not yielding the desired results, the Mumbai Police Traffic department is now banking on its recent acquisition of 1,800 wheel clamps to crack down on illegal parking.
In their drive that began this month, they reined in 29,000 people using these clamps, for wrongly parking vehicles.
“We realised that just by towing vehicles away, we were not achieving the desired results since only one vehicle can be towed at a time and this is time consuming. We decided to acquire wheel clamps based on a German design, and use them to crack down on illegal parking. Each day, we get an average of over 1,000 cases using these wheel clamps,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sanjay Barve.
“Once put on a wheel, the clamps are virtually impossible to tamper with. We have placed stickers of our contact number on the clamps. The owner of the vehicle calls the number and our traffic personnel reach him to collect the fine and release the clamp,” explained Barve.
According to figures provided by the traffic police, since July 1, 29,225 cases were registered in which wheel clamps were used. The Mahim traffic division registered the highest with 1,809 cases, followed by Tardeo with 1,598 and Bandra with 1,533. Pydhonie division had the lowest of 801 cases.
“The number of vehicles in Mumbai has already crossed the two million mark. With parking space at a premium in Mumbai, there are plenty of people who park in no parking zones. This has been a highly successful drive for us, and many offenders will start feeling the pinch as it gathers momentum across the city,” said Barve.