Committee to finalise Delhi parking policy formed

Approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday, the committee will have Anumita Roychowdhury from the Centre of Science and Environment and officials from the transport department and the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS) as its members.

The Delhi government has constituted a special committee to finalise Delhi’s parking policy.

Approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday, the committee will have Anumita Roychowdhury from the Centre of Science and Environment and officials from the transport department and the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS) as its members. (Mohd Zakir/HT PHOTO)

The panel will be headed by Om Prakash Agarwal, an expert in urban mobility and CEO of World Resources Institute (WRI), India, and will have four other members.

“The special committee will analyse all comments received by the government on the draft parking policy for Delhi. They will prepare the final policy along with their own suggestions,” a government official said.

Approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday, the committee will have Anumita Roychowdhury from the Centre of Science and Environment and officials from the transport department and the Delhi Integrated Multi-modal Transit System (DIMTS) as its members.

Comments were sought on the policy, made public on June 15, from the public and other stakeholders till July 31. “The transport department has received 68 comments and some of them are well-researched ideas. Among those who contributed their ideas are residents welfare associations (RWAs), the municipal corporations, a few experts and a number of individuals,” the official added.

The government’s draft parking policy aims at rationlising charges in proportion to the price of land used. It proposes to charge more for day-time parking in residential areas and for peak hours in commercial areas.

Besides, to discourage people from buying multiple cars, it says road tax would be increased on an incremental basis for those who buy more than one car.

But the RWAs have questioned the government’s rationale to charge for every car parked in residential areas. RWAs HT spoke to collectively suggested that every household be allowed free parking for at least one car.

“Why charge for parking a car in front of one’s own house? At least one car must be allowed free of cost as one buys a vehicle for own use after paying a lot of taxes,” said BS Vohra of East Delhi RWAs Joint Front.