Buy cars only if you have space for parking, proposes Maha

Traffic snarls which contribute to air pollution, and often lead to instances of road rage, across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region as well as Tier-2 cities like Nagpur and Pune, have prompted the state government to contemplate a plan where four-wheeler owners must prove owning designated parking spots or areas, both public and private, at the time of registering new vehicles.

- Surendra P Gangan and Shashank Rao

MUMBAI: Termed 'certified parking area' (CPA), buyers will have to furnish a CPA certificate at the time of registering their vehicles.

The CPA certificate will be issued by the BMC and certified by the transport department.

The proposal drafted by state transport commissioner, Vivek Bhimanwar, was presented to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on December 30, as part of the government's 100-day transformation drive. People in the know have confirmed to HT that Fadnavis has given his nod and asked the department to fine-tune the proposal.

Why the move?

The first meeting was held on Wednesday. A day after, Bhimanwar said that such a move was imperative given the "burst of vehicles (including two- and three-wheelers) on the roads in recent times" which have led to parking issues and road congestion. (See box.) Officials from the traffic department, said anonymously, as government is upgrading public transport in cities, a restriction on private vehicles is crucial. These curbs, the report stated, will be introduced in a phased manner, after public and private parking lots are picked by local authorities.