Delhi parking charges to go up soon, end to free parking in residential areas too

The ‘Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Rules, 2017’, approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, is likely to be implemented in March and new parking rates for public and residential areas are likely to be finalised by July.

Free parking in residential areas will soon be a thing of the past in the national Capital, with the Delhi government on Monday notifying a radical new parking policy aimed at reducing the number of cars on the road in favour of public transport.

Officials of the transport department said that the municipal corporations would decide the fee in consultation with the RWAs. (Burhaan Kinu/HT Photo)

The ‘Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Rules, 2017’, approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, is likely to be implemented in March and new parking rates for public and residential areas are likely to be finalised by July. The government has uploaded the rules for comments and suggestions from the public, following which some amendments could still be made.

“The municipal corporations will be given four months to prepare ‘area parking plans’ in their respective zones. The parking fees will be decided after these plans are ready,” Varsha Joshi, commissioner (transport), said.

HT had first reported a major policy shift in policy in June last year, saying that parking on roadsides in residential areas would be chargeable once the new rules were drafted. The government has gone ahead with this plan despite opposition from several Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), who had demanded that space for at least one car per household should be free.

“In case any civic agency denies levying a parking fee in residential area, the L-G under the DMC Act can issue directions. It will also be in violation to the notified rules,” said an official involved in drafting the rules.

The minimum parking rates across Delhi will be fixed by a ‘Base Parking Fee (BPF) Committee’, headed by the transport commissioner. The BPF will be revised every year. The rates for surface and off-site parking lots will be decided in multiples of the BPF.

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said the move will help decongest Delhi, which has more than 10 million registered vehicles, in the long run. “Illegal and badly organised parking has been one of the major reasons for clogged roads . If implemented well by the MCDs, the rules will be the first of their kind for any Indian city,” he said.

According to the new rules, on-street parking will not be allowed 50 metres from intersections on each arm of a road. Dynamic pricing mechanisms such as peak and non-peak fees and an hourly exponential increase will also be introduced.

Parking rates will be linked to pollution levels. “The multiples shall be doubled in case of ‘severe+’ or ‘emergency’ levels of ambient air quality under the Graded Response Action Plan notified by the Centre,” the rules say.