In a letter sent to the police commissioner on January 25, Pardeshi said the parking facilities built by the PMC could be utilised to the fullest only after parking facility for four-wheelers is removed from the nearby roads. He said doing so will also help in reducing congestion on the roads, which will ease the traffic movement.

On December 15, The Indian Express had reported that despite starting operations in mid-October, the city’s first mechanised parking system — a 40-metre tall towering structure — is not finding many takers owing to the alternative roadside parking facility available on the Jangli Maharaj Road. The mechanised parking building can accommodate 80 cars at a time. However, motorists seem to prefer the roadside parking.

“It is true that until and unless the J M Road is made no parking for the four-wheelers, the mechanised parking system will not find parking sufficient number of users. The same is true of the Minerva Parking in mandai. So I have requested the police to convert these roads as ‘no parking’ zones for four-wheelers,” Pardeshi said.

He, however, has not sought changes for two-wheeler parking on these roads.

The civic chief in his letter said, “Instead of using the two parking facilities developed by the PMC on J M Road and in mandai, people prefer using the pay-n-park facility by the roadside to park their vehicles. Therefore, converting the stretch of road between Balgandharva chowk and Deccan Gymkhana and the internal by lanes along the J M Road and similarly the area surrounding the Minerva parking as ‘no parking’ zone for four-wheelers, will automatically bring more vehicles to the respective

parking centres developed by the PMC.”

The mechanised parking project has been constructed on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The PMC has provided the required capital and the land, while the Ram Ratna Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (RRIPL) will maintain it for five years, at a fee of Rs five per hour per car, after which it will be handed over to the PMC.

Additional city engineer (projects), Shrinivas Bonala said, “The contract of the pay-n-park operator on J M Road is yet to get over. Yet, we have put forth two options before the contractor — either to terminate the contract in which case the PMC will compensate them, or to run the business on the adjoining alternative roads like Apte Road or Fergusson College Road.”