Mumbai HC Proposes 'One-Car-Per-Family' Rule To Alleviate Congestion

The Mumbai High Court suggested the Maharashtra government should consider measures such as limiting the number of vehicles per family in order to deal with the traffic congestion in its capital city. The court, exploring an extensive guideline in relevance to the congestion in Mumbai, also proposed encouraging use of inland water transport.

Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on shortage of designated parking spaces in the city, the court said, "These days every family has at least two cars...This should be restricted to just one car per family." It went on to add, "Unauthorised parking due to lack of space is a very serious problem in Mumbai and is the cause of much traffic congestion....A large number of private vehicles enter the city every morning and leave in the evening, but they have no space for parking through the day. The government cannot sit on the problem anymore."

The court also remarked that the time taken to commute between various locations in the city has gone up considerably in the last decade.

A division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade directed the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the state Urban Development Ministry and the traffic police to sit together and come up with a "holistic policy" on traffic issues.

The judges added that pushing inland water transport might aid the city's traffic woes. The bench added, "While it will not solve all your problems, water transport can act as a complementary mode of transport." The state government has been asked to apprise the court about its feasibility at the next hearing after four weeks.