Crackdown on parking at markets

After requesting Delhi’s municipal authorities for years to fix the city’s parking mafia, the police have now decided to tackle the problem head-on. Ravi Bajpai and Abhishek Bhalla report.

A parking ticket for your car is no longer a guarantee that the vehicle won’t be towed away.

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After requesting Delhi’s municipal authorities for years to fix the city’s parking mafia, the police have now decided to tackle the problem head-on. Following a recent order from Commissioner YS Dadwal, the police have begun cracking down on illegal parking in the city’s major markets.

The drive has been kicked off at Lajpat Nagar, Connaught Place, Basant Lok, Khan Market and Karol Bagh. Police have begun pasting stickers on cars parked in no-parking zones in these places informing the owners that they will be prosecuted.

At Connaught Place, the police on Friday made a contractor pay fines for all the cars illegally parked outside the demarcated parking lot. Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Qamar Ahmed, also did not rule out criminal action against contractors for cheating people.

Amiya Chandra, who heads the unit of Municipal Corporation of Delhi that monitors parking lots, welcomed the police’s move and said joint efforts were required to stop contractors from illegally extending authorised parking lots. The MCD looks after more than 80 per cent of the city’s parking lots.