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Delhi

Congress opposes parking fee hike

Congress has opposed the proposed increase in parking charges in south Delhi. The opposition party in the local civic body has demanded the commissioner to crackdown  on illegal parking and parking mafias to increase the revenue.

‘The main reason for low revenue from the parking charges is due to illegal parking in nexus with parking mafias in south Delhi areas,’ said Farhad Suri, leader of Opposition in South Delhi Municipal Coporation (SDMC) initiating the budget discussion on Monday.

‘I request the corporation to reject the proposal of commissioner’s steep hike in parking charges in SDMC areas,’ Suri added.

As per the records of the SDMC, it could achieve only 4.6 per cent of its targeted  parking revenue in the first two quarters of the current financial year. The corporation has aimed to collect Rs 30.08 crore from parking charges in 2012-13 but as per the data provided by the department only Rs 1.40 crore were collected by 30 September of this year.

‘We do not agree with the proposed increase in parking charges which is being rationalised to as a measure to deter surface parking and promote the use of public transport,’ said Rajesh Gehlot, chairman of standing committee of SDMC.

Municipal commissioner Manish Gupta maintained that the proposed increase in parking will demoralise surface parking and decongest the roads and markets.

In his proposal the commissioner has divided the parking into three categories – premium surface parking, surface parking, and multi-level parking. The commissioner has proposed a charge Rs 10 for parking a car in premium markets for 30 minutes, Rs 20 for one hour and Rs 50 for three hours and Rs 20 for every additional hours thereafter. The charges would be less in non-premium areas.
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