Pune: Former deputy mayor and senior Congress corporator Aba Bagul has written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to allow new four-wheeler registrations, only if their owners secure a parking ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) from the civic body, to handle shrinking parking spaces in the city.
According to statistics provided by the Road Transport Office (RTO), there is an increase of 9.57 pc in the private vehicle population as compared to last year, which was 8.24 pc. This not only adds to pollution but also increases expenditure on fuel, time and energy. Traffic jams, chaos on the roads, noise and air pollution have become major issues. The number of vehicles has reached 36.27 lakh, which is more than the population of the city (31.24 lakh) as per the census 2011. Of these vehicles, there are 6.74 lakh four-wheelers. A four-wheeler needs 220 sq ft area for parking. The PMC has already declared that they don’t have enough space to provide parking to vehicles and has introduced the pay and park policy.
Against this backdrop, Aba Bagul has written to Fadnavis to allow registration of new four-wheelers only if they have parking NOCs from the civic body.
He said, “The vehicle population is more than the human population in the city. It has worsened the parking situation. The PMC has decided to implement the pay and park system. But I don’t think the parking policy will succeed as the vehicle population has already gone out of control. We can address parking space shortage as well as restrict new vehicles by making the parking NOC mandatory for the registration of new four-wheelers. The PMC will issue a NOC after checking whether the owner has parking space for their four-wheelers. After that, the RTO can register the new four-wheeler.”
Vinod Sagar, Deputy RTO, Pune, said, “It is possible to make the NOC mandatory for new four-wheeler registrations. But the State government doesn’t have the power to do it. The Union government has to make a law.’’
