Park in peace outside railway stations
BMC to revise city development plan to provide parking lots, streamline traffic and ease commuters’ woes …..SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to revise its city development plan, to allow for special parking slots outside railway stations in the city and the suburbs.
The land owners who surrender their plots will be compensated with extra floor space index (FSI) over the same plot.
The proposal was mooted by Shiv Sena corporator Manmohan Chonkar in the BMC’s Improvements Committee meeting recently. Chonkar said that the increasing number of vehicles has led to choked streets, especially around railway stations.
“Areas outside stations are crowded and vehicles are parked haphazardly, leaving little space for people and causing great inconvenience. Office-goers during peak hours are the worst sufferers. There is dire need of parking lots near stations, especially in the suburbs where autos and taxis choke the approach road to the station. The proposed parking lots will help streamline the traffic,” he said.
Congress corporator Amin Patel backed the proposal, which will be passed in the next meeting scheduled in June-end. “This is the right time as the BMC is still preparing the city development plan. If a reservation is made at this stage, it will ensure a lot of relief for the people.”
The civic chief, however, pointed out that it would take some time before the plan was finalised, but said it was under consideration. “We will make reservations for parking lots, but for that we will have to modify the city developmental plan for 2011. After the final sanction, the modifications will be made for the parking lots in the vicinity of stations,” said the Commissioner in his remarks to the Improvement Committee.
Parking lots will reduce congestion outside stations like Andheri