Navi Mumbai Residents Frustrated by Illegal Parking and Lack of Planning
Navi Mumbai: Resentment is brewing among residents over the steady takeover of main roads, internal lanes, and even newly widened stretches by unchecked, and illegal parking, negating the very purpose of road expansion and increasing traffic to the point of inconvenience in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai.
Also known as the ‘city of the 21st century’—built some four decades ago to decongest mainland Mumbai—residents now say that the purpose of developing this new city is straying far away from its original plan of decongestion. Activist B N Kumar, convenor of Human Chain Online, said, “Are we building and widening the roads for smooth traffic or to create more parking space? The purpose must be clear when crores of rupees of taxpayers' money is being spent on road contracts.”
Describing the situation as “a matter of shame for a city branded as a 21st-century model,” Kumar said Navi Mumbai continued to function without a basic parking policy even as the number of vehicles surged every passing day. “More than half of the Vashi–Ghansoli main road is jam-packed with vehicles parked erratically, much to the inconvenience of disciplined motorists and pedestrians,” he added, noting that the issue had been repeatedly flagged to both the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) and traffic authorities.
When asked, NMMC officials said the civic body is creating indoor parking lots to deal with the haphazard parking on public places. The stretch between Vashi Fire Brigade signal and the Blue Diamond junction remains permanently choked. Almost all smaller roads are encroached upon by illegal parking, leaving little space for vehicular and pedestrian movement. “There are no effective traffic control measures. The mess is the same during peak hours, non-peak hours — every hour,” Kumar said.
At Kopar Khairane's D-Mart circle, the parking chaos was even more blatant. “Two-wheelers, luxury cars, and auto-rickshaws block narrow turns at a fast-food joint, right opposite the traffic police outpost,” said a resident of Navi Mumbai. Citizens blamed structural planning failure rather than mere carelessness. Real-estate consultant Naresh Shah said, “It is just impossible to find parking space anywhere in Sector-17, Vashi.”
Vijay N, of Seawoods–Nerul, added, “There is constant digging, diversions, and zero parking planning. One finds it just impossible to park.” Activist Madhu Shankar said Temple Lane in Sector-29, Vashi remained a permanent choke point. “There has been no improvement despite my innumerable complaints. Even pavements are occupied. The odd-even schedule is not being enforced, and there is hardly any traffic police check,” she said.
Moreover, daily commuters using public buses are not able to access the bus shelters due to illegal parking of vehicles in front of bus stops. Kumar, who also heads environmental watchdog NatConnect Foundation, warned that the daily traffic jams were now a pollution hazard. “There are no checks on truck exhausts. Carbon monoxide levels keep building up as engines idle in long queues.” Residents further blamed government-run Cidco's failure to mandate adequate parking facilities and bigger spaces in commercial and residential allotments.
Mathadi worker colonies which were expanded to ground-plus-two structures now host multiple vehicles per family, spilling onto narrow internal roads. “The so-called planned city of Navi Mumbai is perhaps the only place where two-wheelers are ridden freely on pavements, inconveniencing pedestrians,” said activists. Citizen groups have urged the civic and police officials to resolve the problem of illegal parking, saying it can no longer be ignored or normalized.
