KMC team visits Burrabazar to inspect complaints of ‘illegal’ parking eating up road space
Telegraph | 3 June 2025
A group of officials from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) found multiple instances of unlawful parking in and around Burrabazar on Monday.
Among these were cars parked in two lines, trucks parked on either side of a road, walkways brimming with items that had been unloaded or were awaiting loading onto a lorry, and big trucks parked along small roadways.
Debashis Kumar, the mayoral council member heading the KMC’s parking department, visited parts of Burrabazar at the invitation of BJP councillors from the area — Vijay Ojha of Ward 23 and Meena Devi Purohit of Ward 22.
Ojha and Purohit have been raising the issue of illegal parking and its impact on residents at meetings of the KMC councillors.
They had requested Kumar to come and see the situation for himself.
When The Telegraph visited Burrabazar on Monday afternoon, large trucks were parked along Nalini Seth Road, reducing its width by half. Carts ferrying goods and vehicles moving in opposite directions were vying for space on the remaining half of the road.
At Kali Krishna Tagore Street, large goods vehicles were parked on both sides of the road. In some stretches, a second line of parked goods vehicles had eaten away space from the already reduced width of the road.
Kumar first went to the roads around Raja Katra and Strand Road before coming to Kali Krishna Tagore Street.
He had a brief meeting with Purohit, Ojha and police officers from Howrah Bridge Traffic Guard at Purohit’s office.
“Many goods vehicles are parked along several roads. This has been the picture for decades. I did not see much illegal parking,” Kumar initially said.
A little later, he admitted that “illegal parking was indeed happening in Burrabazar”.
As he walked along a small stretch of KK Tagore Street, he asked vehicles parked on a second line to leave.
Ojha told The Telegraph that KK Tagore Street, Debendra Dutta Lane, Nalini Seth Road, Maharshi Debendra Road, Kalakar Street and Bysack Street were among the worst affected by illegal parking.
“There are 20 cars parked on a stretch that has the KMC’s approval to park only 5 cars. Illegal parking reduces the width of a road. The money earned goes into the pockets of local goondas and leaders. The KMC gets nothing,” Ojha said.
He suggested that the police and the KMC identify the wider roads for the parking of trucks and lorries, and the comparatively narrower roads for the parking of smaller cars. “If a large truck is parked on a narrow road, it causes snarls and delays the movement of residents. I am not saying remove the trucks, but I am only asking for more ordered parking,” said Ojha.
Many businesses ran from goods vehicles parked along a road. The owners had no offices and earned money only by loading, unloading, and ferrying goods. They did not pay any parking fee to KMC. Neither did they have to pay any tax to KMC since they didn’t own an office space, he said.
Footpaths encroached by hawkers and business goods make it difficult for pedestrians to walk, he said.
Illegal car parking is a major problem in central Calcutta and the office area of Dalhousie, where the demand for parking space far exceeds the available parking space.
Free parking zones are converted into paid parking zones by local political leaders who raise the money without the KMC’s permission. The wide gap between demand and supply also means that car owners have to pay significantly more than the actual hourly parking rate set by the KMC.