Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) standing committee on Wednesday gave its approval to a citywide pay-and-park policy that will govern both on-street and off-street parking facilities across the city.The policy aims to create a long-term framework to address the city’s escalating parking and traffic congestion challenges. A key feature of the plan is the utilisation of reserved, but currently unused amenity spaces along congested and high-traffic roads to create designated parking zones, thereby freeing up road space and improving traffic flow.The PCMC has finalised parking charges for both on-street and off-street facilities. It also provides for long-duration parking options and monthly passes for two-wheelers and four-wheelers.In high-demand areas, on-street parking for two-wheelers will cost Rs10 per hour, while parking for light four-wheelers will cost Rs40 per hour. A monthly pass will cost Rs1,800 for a two-wheeler and Rs3,600 for a four-wheeler.The move, however, has drawn opposition from residents and activists, who said the civic body should provide parking facilities free of cost, particularly to the residents. Sanjeevan Sangale, president of the Chikhali-Moshi-Pimpri Chinchwad Cooperative Housing Societies Federation, said the policy would impose an additional financial burden on residents when several basic civic issues remain unresolved.“Several parts of the city have poor roads. Residents continue to face issues related to water supply, drainage, roads, waste management, parking and other basic civic amenities. The civic body is expected to provide quality and adequate civic facilities to residents and should not introduce policies aimed at collecting additional charges for various services,” he said.Sangale said the civic body should first improve basic infrastructure before imposing parking charges. “Before introducing such a policy, the municipal corporation should ensure that the citizens are provided with essential basic amenities of good quality. In such a situation, forcing citizens to pay for parking is not justified,” he said, adding that the federation will strongly oppose it.
