Sixty-two cars parked overnight along kerbs in several Ballygunge neighbourhoods in south Kolkata were clamped by a team of police and civic officials on Thursday night.
The cars were parked along Dover Road, Deodar Street, Ritchie Road, Hazra Road and Lansdowne Place — on stretches that are declared ‘no-parking’ zones by the police.
Owners of clamped vehicles had to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 to get the clamp removed by the parking department of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
The police also issued e-challans for violation of the no-parking rule to the registered mobile numbers of the owners.
KMC officials said most of the car owners or drivers got rid of the clamps by paying the fine to a representative of the parking department of the civic body, who went there on Friday morning to collect the amount.
Prosecutions for alleged illegal night parking in no-parking zones had stopped in the past two years, during the pandemic.
The police and the civic body have re-launched the drive against illegal parking after almost all restrictions imposed to keep Covid in check have been removed and there is an urgent need to clear space to accommodate an increasing number of vehicles on thoroughfares.
Most people whose cars were clamped on Thursday night said they did not know that leaving their cars overnight in front of their home could attract a fine.
A resident of Dover Road whose Suzuki Ciaz was clamped said he had been parking his car on the pavement outside his home for the last six years. “No one ever came and told us that this was illegal,” he said.
He said he paid a fine of Rs 1,000 to a KMC official who turned up on Friday morning.
A clamp is inserted through a wheel’s rim and locked. It can be reopened only with a designated key. It has fork-like protrusions on it so that if someone tries to drive the car with the clamp, the forks will puncture the tyre and the clamp would damage the radial.
A man whose Maruti Suzuki Alto was clamped outside his Ritchie Road house said he was “surprised” to see the clamp on his car on Friday morning.
“I would not have parked the car overnight on the road if I knew this was illegal? So many people keep their cars outside their houses, nothing happens to them,” he told this newspaper.
He said he had dialled the phone number mentioned on a sticker left on the wiper of his car and then contacted KMC officials to pay the fine.
Officials of the civic body said that according to the rule, if a car was found overnight in a no-parking zone, it was clamped and a sticker fitted in the car’s wiper.
The sticker contains the address and contact number of the 15 treasury offices of the KMC where the fine can be paid and the control room number of the civic body which the car owner can call to get the clamp removed.
Traffic cops use clamps at daytime for prosecuting illegal parking, while KMC clamps are used specifically at night, a senior police officer said.
“Police officers accompany the KMC teams at night to assist them in case there is resistance to the drive,” said an officer.
Clamps used for night parking are kept with the parking department of the KMC. At present, there are 100 clamps available with the KMC, officials said. The police have their own.
Night parking norms
l Leaving your car on the pavement or road outside your home causing ‘obstruction’ in a common space is illegal
l The penalty for illegal night parking is Rs 1,000
l If you want to park a car outside your home, contact KMC’s parking department for permission
l The minimum period for which you can seek permission to park a car in a common space is one month
l For a year’s permit for parking a car in a common space, you need to pay Rs 6,124 annually
l KMC chooses the zones for raids depending on complaints from individuals or residential societies
l If a car is found parked in a common space at night without permission from the KMC, it can be clamped
l KMC officials who conduct the drive leave a sticker on the wiper of the clamped vehicle with numbers of the 15 treasury offices of the KMC, where the penalty can be paid, and the KMC’s control room number, which the car owner can call to get the clamp removed
l Police use clamps for prosecution of illegal parking in the daytime, while the KMC does it for night parking, though the frequency of night raids is lower