Need policy to limit number of vehicles in Mumbai, says Congress MLA Varsha Gaikwad

Mumbai: Considering that the increase in the number of vehicles is a major contributor to the city's traffic congestion, the Congress party asked the Maharashtra government to come up with concrete policies to limit the vehicle count in the financial capital of Mumbai and its suburbs.

According to the 2018 data, a total of 79 lakh 71 thousand vehicles were registered in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) which comprises the twin districts of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban and parts of neighbouring districts of Thane, Palghar and Raigad.

"More than 60 lakh vehicles are concentrated in Mumbai and Thane alone. To top that, most of Thane district's vehicles come to Mumbai every day for work. Due to this, there is a huge traffic jam on city roads," said Mumbai Regional Congress Committee President Prof Varsha Gaikwad, a former Maharashtra minister.

She also suggested 'No vehicle zones' in some parts of the city considering the rise in pollution.

"There is also a need to test whether a part of the city can be made a 'no vehicle zone'. Mumbaikars are already suffocating due to air pollution. As a result, there is a need to control the number of vehicles and make the public transport system more efficient. Will the government plan any policy on this?" she asked. Prof Gaikwad added that Mumbai entry points and toll booths are also largely responsible for traffic congestion.

"Provision has been made to continue these tolls till 2027. However, the toll rates are increased every three years. The burden of toll should be taken off from people living in MMR. Only then the traffic congestion at the toll plaza can be reduced considerably," she said.

The Dharavi MLA also emphasised that space crunch is also a major factor when it comes to parking so many vehicles.

"Often people buy cars but don't have space for parking. As a result, cars are parked on the road. One car takes up three meters of space. If 100 cars are parked on the roads of Mumbai, they occupy three kilometres of road space. One can only guess how much road space 45 lakh cars are utilising," she added.