Parking to be streamlined in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar 2, 3

Over the years, parking has become a serious concern in residential areas in the city. While residents want the government to streamline parking in residential areas, they don’t want to pay for it.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has decided to start a pilot project to regulate parking in the Lajpat Nagar 3 residential area and revive its old project in Block C of Lajpat Nagar 2.

Cars parked in a residential parking area at C-block in Lajpat Nagar-2, New Delhi on Tuesday. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

The decision comes a day after the Supreme Court directed the Delhi government to notify new parking rules by September 30 and ensure a detailed assessment of parking for the next 25 years before granting construction permission. It had also asked the civic agencies to remove encroachment from pavements.

In Lajpat Nagar 3 residential area, there is a demand to park 3,510 cars. But there is space for just 1,830 cars, as per a report prepared by the Environment Pollution (Prevention &Control) Authority (EPCA). The EPCA has prepared a pilot report for Lajpat Nagar 3 to manage parking in the residential colony, the apex court said.

SDMC officials said a meeting with the residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) of the concerned areas—Lajpat Nagar 3 and Block C, Lajpat Nagar 2—will be held this week. “We will soon start efforts to regularise parking in Lajpat Nagar 3 on the lines of Lajpat Nagar 2 plan. We will hold a meeting with the RWA in the next two or three days to discuss the plan. The work will begin in a week. We will also start marking requisite areas in Lajpat Nagar 3 with yellow stripes. We will also take action against encroachments as per the SC order,” a senior SDMC official, privy to the development, said.

The SDMC had, last year, started a plan to regularise parking in Block C, Lajpat Nagar 2, but it was discontinued within a month.

Yogesh Pahuja, president of Block C Lajpat Nagar 2 RWA, said, “It is good that the SDMC is going to revive the parking regularisation plan. Last year, the plan fizzled out due to a lack of support from the SDMC,” Pahuja said.

Bhure Lal, chairman, EPCA, said, “We will assess future parking needs in Lajpat Nagar, Krishna Nagar, and Kamla Nagar and formulate a plan. We will look for measures which can help create more spaces in these areas to solve the parking problem.”

Over the years, parking has become a serious concern in residential areas in the city. While residents want the government to streamline parking in residential areas, they don’t want to pay for it.

The draft Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Places Rules, which were notified for comments in HindustanJanuary 2018, proposed making parking chargeable in residential areas. But the Delhi government had later withdrawn the clause after receiving complaints from the city’s RWAs.

Rajiv Kakria, convenor of Save the City, a group of RWAs and civil society members, said, “The master plan has been diluted and provisions like mixed land-use have led to the present-day crisis in residential colonies. Why should residents pay for parking now?”