Individuals parking their vehicles on streets along with their houses are likely to pay parking fee soon. Delhi high court has formed a committee, named Special Task Force (STF), which has planned to levy charges on individuals for on-street parking in their residential colonies.
An official of STF said, “The proposal is in a preliminary stage. We have asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to look into levying parking fee for vehicles parked on public roads, even if they are within residential colonies.”
The government has offered two months to this municipal body to come-up with a practical approach, which can be imposed over the individuals. As per sources, the main reason conceived behind charging such duties is to demotivate the rising traffic of vehicles on-roads.
On this policy, an MCD official said, “The task force wants MCD to explore the feasibility of levying parking charges on cars that are parked on the road side. One-time parking charges that a buyer pays while purchasing a car do not deter people from purchasing more cars. To discourage this, the proposal has been mooted.”
On the other hand, an official acknowledged that this plan of imposing charges may not come into effect. He further said, “Abroad, parking charges are levied even on vehicles parked in residential colonies if it is a public road. But implementation in Delhi may be more difficult as the resistance to any changes in parking structure is widespread here.”
Reportedly, the street parking charges are likely to vary depending upon the location of the residential place. Therefore, MCD will shortly carry out an analysis to study the likelihood of different places and will then present a report.
The STF, which is formed by the instructions of Delhi High Court to regulate traffic issues, proposed in its last meeting in February that the parking rates in cities are required to be revised. As per the revised plan, the charge for 3 hours is moved to Rs. 50, while Rs. 20 will be levied on every extra hour during the non-peak hours. In addition, the individuals will be required to pay Rs. 50 for each hour during the peak time. STF has set Rs. 30 as a permanent parking rate for continuous three hours during the non-peak time.
A government official said, “These proposals regarding parking have been tabled in the court but no comprehensive steps have been taken by the MCD to implement them.”
It must be noted that during the last year, MCD refused upon the proposal of increasing the parking charges. However, when MCD will present its analysis, STF will issue its final statement upon the charging policy of street parking in residential areas.
