MCD to post list of legal parking lots, charges on internet

Delhi's three municipal corporations have decided to post a list of legal parking sites on their web portals along with the rates they charge.

How many times have you ended up paying parking fees at key areas only to realise later that you were a victim of the city’s thriving parking mafia?

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Not anymore. For, the city’s three municipal corporations have decided to post a list of legal parking sites on their web portals along with the rates they charge.

Senior officials said the decision was taken in light of growing complaints that “parking attendants” were charging excessive rates. These attendants are usually part of a well-organised racket, trained to dole out fake slips to fleece unsuspecting commuters.

“The aim is to curb the parking mafia in the city. As an experiment, we have posted legal parking sites under the jurisdiction of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), along with charges and the layout plan on its website,” said a senior municipal official.

The official added there are 45 authorised parking sites in East Delhi, of which fee is charged at 27 locations. The rest are currently free as no bids were received for them during the tender procedure. Sources said the move will soon be replicated in areas under the north and south Delhi municipal corporations. Currently, there are 97 authorised parking sites in north Delhi and 78 in south Delhi. However, many remain vacant due to the parking mafia, officials said.

“It was found that at times the concessionaires wouldn’t take part in the bidding procedure so they could operate without permission, causing heavy financial losses to the corporations,” a senior official said. Recently, the North MCD had decided to operate on its own 17 parking sites for which no bids were received.

“The list of the parking lots can be found on individual websites (of the corporations), under the events and news list. The list will be updated monthly and soon additional information will also added,” said an official. Apart from parking site locations, websites of the city’s three corporations would also give a detailed summary of parking rates, ownership details and contact numbers of officials for Delhiites to report illegally operated parking lots. A mobile application to help commuters track parking sites is also in the works, officials said. The application can also be used to rate the sites and file any complaints, they added.