Parking in front of houses to come at a price
17 Aug 2012 6:36 AM IST
Now parking in front of your house or on the streets of your colony will not be free. A committee deliberating on the parking issues of the city, under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Tejendera Khanna, comprising senior Delhi government officers and commissioners of the civic bodies, among others, has decided to impose a monthly parking fee on the owners parking their cars on the streets and on public land in front of their houses.
The meeting of the committee was held on Thursday morning and the stakeholders decided to levy monthly parking fee for vehicles parked on public land including streets, parks or vacant government plots. However, they are uncertain about the amount to be charged. According to sources, EPCA-Delhi Pollution Control Committee has suggested Rs 600 per month, but the amount could not be finalised on Thursday's meeting.
The responsibility to implement the parking charges will be carried out by the civic bodies concerned in their respective areas. 'The committee also decided to increase parking charges and impose hourly parking charges in the city,' said a senior official who participated in the meeting. 'The decision to hike parking charges and impose monthly parking fee has been taken to discourage car users and car purchasing in the city, which has congested the roads and added to the pollution woes of the city,' added the official.
A top official of Delhi government said currently 11 per cent of the total area in the city is being used as parking space and it was time to take some drastic steps to control number of vehicles. 'The government feels that there is no other alternative, but increase parking fee to restrict the number of private vehicles. We cannot afford to increase the parking space,' the official said. In the meeting, a number of experts, including officials from Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) spoke about the need for a hefty hike in surface parking as people are not using the multi-level parkings due to the cost factor.
'We have built a number of multi-level parking. But they are not being used as the rates for surface parking is much lower than the multi-level parking,' said the official. According to statistics, there are nearly 65 lakh vehicles registered in the city. The number of vehicles in Delhi is more than that of vehicles in Mumbai Chennai or Kolkata. On an average, over 1,000 vehicles are being added to the city roads everyday.
The meeting of the committee was held on Thursday morning and the stakeholders decided to levy monthly parking fee for vehicles parked on public land including streets, parks or vacant government plots. However, they are uncertain about the amount to be charged. According to sources, EPCA-Delhi Pollution Control Committee has suggested Rs 600 per month, but the amount could not be finalised on Thursday's meeting.
The responsibility to implement the parking charges will be carried out by the civic bodies concerned in their respective areas. 'The committee also decided to increase parking charges and impose hourly parking charges in the city,' said a senior official who participated in the meeting. 'The decision to hike parking charges and impose monthly parking fee has been taken to discourage car users and car purchasing in the city, which has congested the roads and added to the pollution woes of the city,' added the official.
A top official of Delhi government said currently 11 per cent of the total area in the city is being used as parking space and it was time to take some drastic steps to control number of vehicles. 'The government feels that there is no other alternative, but increase parking fee to restrict the number of private vehicles. We cannot afford to increase the parking space,' the official said. In the meeting, a number of experts, including officials from Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) spoke about the need for a hefty hike in surface parking as people are not using the multi-level parkings due to the cost factor.
'We have built a number of multi-level parking. But they are not being used as the rates for surface parking is much lower than the multi-level parking,' said the official. According to statistics, there are nearly 65 lakh vehicles registered in the city. The number of vehicles in Delhi is more than that of vehicles in Mumbai Chennai or Kolkata. On an average, over 1,000 vehicles are being added to the city roads everyday.
Next Story
