The civic authorities and Calcutta police will undertake a drive against parking of cars on footpaths following thousands of complaints by residents.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya met municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay and joint commissioner (traffic) Ranvir Kumar last week in this regard.

“There is shortage of parking space in Calcutta but that does not mean motorists can park anywhere. As pedestrians cannot walk down the middle of a carriageway, motorists too cannot drive or park their cars on footpaths. We will soon launch a drive against parking on footpath during office hours,” said Bhattacharyya.

The problem is rampant in Burrabazar and central Calcutta.

“Cars parked on the pavement will be regularly towed away by police. The civic law department is exploring provisions for filing cases in the municipal magistrate court against the owners of cars parked on footpaths,” said Bandyopadhyay.

“Road space in Calcutta is one-fourth of the national standard. Footpath space is even less, so roadside parking is not the solution. We have announced incentives for builders to create parking lots. We have also decided to allow multi-level semi-automatic parking lots on open-air parking spaces on private premises,” added Bandyopadhyay.

According to the civic authorities, nearly 100,000 cars lack parking space between 10am and 5pm. If 5,000 cars are parked on footpaths, pedestrians will be denied access to about 20 km of pavement.

“Parking of cars damages footpaths since their load bearing capacity is less than that of carriageways. In some places, kerb stones have been removed to allow cars to board footpaths. The edges of the footpaths break if the kerb stones are removed. Motorists even drive on footpaths paved with blocks,” said deputy chief engineer (civil) Soumitra Bhattacharya.