In South Mumbai, cops remove illegally parked bikes at lightning speed

Before: Vehicles obstruct the entry gate. Pic/Anurag Ahire; (right) After: The gate cleared after cops were alerted to the complaint

Simla House, the mammoth housing enclave at Nepean Sea Road, was battling a crush of two-wheelers blocking the one huge access gate to the building, making entry and exit a huge challenge. Letters to the joint commissioner of police (traffic) in February elicited no concrete action, they said.

The mammoth housing enclave is battling with a crush of bikes blocking the one huge access gate to the building, making entry and exit a huge challenge. The colony has five wings A, B, C, D and E, with 246 flats and 87 garages. It houses at least 1000 residents. The Simla House residents wrote to the Jt Commissioner Traffic A Kumbhare in February this year, citing considerable problems and dangers posed by the bikes obstructing their right of way.

Before: Simla House residents highlighted the difficulty emergency vehicles could face with scores of bikes blocking the entrance. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Residents stated, "Simla House members park bikes and vehicles inside the parking lot. These bikes belong to those who live in the vicinity. Parking right in front of the main gate, choking the space, severely compromises our access."

Letters fly

A letter dated February 27 addressed to the Jt CP (Traffic) stated as its subject line: ‘Bikes parked 24x7 outside the society's main gate and below No Parking boards.'

After: The pathway was cleared after the traffic police intervened

The letter stated, "On behalf of one of the largest residential societies of Nepean Sea Road, we would like to draw your kind attention towards the difficulties faced, especially by ladies and children at the main gate of our building. Moreover, it is impossible for a fire brigade to enter our building, and it is extremely difficult for cars to move in or out of this area."

The letter specified the location as "located at 15 feet distance from Simla Nagar police beat chowkie." They requested the traffic cops to "Take strong action to permanently remove the bikers from our main gate who park under No Parking boards." They also pointed to a notification that there "should be 26 ‘No Parking' boards in our lane, but several boards have been deliberately removed by some traffic offenders. Kindly do the needful for the re-erection of the same."

The letter highlighted, "Seven cameras are already installed in our Simla House lane, hence, the offenders can be fined easily. Kindly activate this system otherwise, the offenders feel the No Parking boards are just for show."

Cop's eyes

The residents of the 1968 building pointed out that the beat police chowkie is literally at their main gate, "so all this is going on under the police's eyes. This has been a festering problem. We have heaps of correspondence to different authorities going back 10 years or more requesting action when it comes to tackling bike parking and gate obstruction. Sometimes, we do get some temporary respite, there is some clearing away, but like a ‘boomerang' the bikes are back in some days." The residents stressed, "One way to ensure that we have a long-standing resolution is for the police to check the camera surveillance and see who the bikes belong to. We also have two cameras installed at our main gate, besides cameras in the lane. The cops should confiscate the vehicles, return them after a fine and penalise repeat offenders heavily. That should bring this to a stop."

Action taken

The Joint Commissioner of Traffic, A Kumbhare, took lightning-quick action, ensuring bikes were cleared and the gate was free, when this reporter asked him to reply to the complaint letter. He stated, "I have asked my officers to take action. The point now is to prevent recurrence, ensuring the status quo. We will continue taking action."

246
No. of flats in the society