Delhi Government proposes new Parking Policy

Prepare to pay a lot more to park your car in the National Capital.

Delhi’s worrisome congestion level is secret to no one. The National Capital, as of January 1, 2017, has a whopping one crore plus registered vehicles. The city, which already houses over 17 million people, is struggling to peacefully accommodate everything.

Out of the one crore plus registered vehicles in New Delhi, roughly 9.5 lakh are private ones. As it turns out, a majority of these 9.5 lakh vehicles are not getting a dedicated parking spot, mainly due to excessive space constraints. Consequently, private cars are seen parked everywhere, on main roads, on streets, and even on highways.

To counter the vehicle led congestion, the new ‘Parking Policy for Delhi’ is proposing to levy fees for roadside parking in a draft policy. The fee is expected to be significantly higher for parking during daytime, especially during peak traffic hours. Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Anil Baijal, has already approved this policy drafted by the Aam Aadmi Party. This draft policy will now be open to suggestions from public and stake holders for a month, before it gets implemented.

To fix the frequent traffic blockage on the streets of the residential colonies, the policy proposes to allot parking space to the residents based on the size of their residential plots. Yes, even parking in the street just outside your houses’ gate is expected to become chargeable.

The policy is also aimed at discouraging people from buying more cars, as the road tax would be increased on an incremental basis for those who buy more than one car. Also, those with more than two cars will be charged a much higher parking fee.

As a part of the new ‘Parking Policy for Delhi’, parking on footpaths would be classified as a congestible offence under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act. The policy also asks the DDA to come up with a rule to allow empty plots in colonies to be converted payable parking lots.

The Centre is planning to make parking proof mandatory for new vehicle registration. A similar clause is being introduced in Delhi’s parking policy too, where vehicle owners will have to give proof of parking space to get new commercial registrations.

While this may sound like a rather extreme measure on the Governments’ behalf, but keeping in mind Delhi’s traffic scenario, an overall parking policy for New Delhi may go a long way.