EPCA's new recommendations likely to add to parking woes in Delhi
Welcome To CitySpidey

Location

EPCA's new recommendations likely to add to parking woes in Delhi

"Recommendations have been made keeping in mind the Delhi government may be directed to notify the Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Rules, 2017," EPCA said.

EPCA's new recommendations likely to add to parking woes in Delhi

Parking has always been a contentious issue for people living in Delhi. Formal talks, meets and discussions related to framing a proper policy have been taking place for so long but no concrete steps can be seen at ground level. 

Though much-talked parking policy to decongest the National Capital’s roads both in residential and commercial areas is yet to be implemented, new recommendations by Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) may bring serious challenges as far as its execution is concerned. It recommended that owning more than one car may levy more parking charges than the first one in residential areas.

The Supreme Court-appointed EPCA put forth its recommendation in a joint meeting with multiple authorities, including Delhi traffic police recently. The meeting was held following the direction given by the apex court to prepare a parking plan for the national capital. It proposed that parking in residential areas should be regulated. Besides, pricing should be determined jointly by the local administration and RWAs but it must be based on the principle of charging higher rates for additional cars. Apart from this, it suggested the local parking plan must ensure that there is provision for free movement of emergency vehicles.

Talking to City Spidey on this subject, a senior EPCA member said, “Recommendations have been made keeping in mind the Delhi government may be directed to notify the Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Rules, 2017. It is up to the Delhi government to notify it.”

In its reports, accessed by City Spidey, it has been observed that even though some Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) have demarcated parking lots and are already levying extra charges for parking second and third car, free parking on public land continues to be a city-wide menace.

The report read, “Lack of regulation or charges over parking on public land adds to the menace, as most car owners, in order to avoid parking charges, park their vehicles on streets. A severe crisis of parking during night time leads to obstruction on roads, creating a serious issue with the movement of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, fire engines etc.”

On Delhi government’s proposal of building multi-level car parking, the EPCA stated that multi-level car parking remains under-utilised. “This happens because there is no parking charge on public land and because parking in residential colonies is not regulated,” the report added.

Stressing more on multi-level parking, the EPCA pointed that it is witnessing huge loss and there is just operational cost which does not account for the price of land, which is exorbitant as these parking lots are located in prime residential areas.