The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday directed the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to ensure that no cars are parked at the surface level in Sarojini Nagar market even at night.
A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar directed the corporation to deploy traffic police in order to decongest the area.
“What prohibits you from towing away cars at night? You deploy force even at night so that people do not park their vehicles on the road,” said the Bench.
The observations of the green panel came after the counsel for the NDMC submitted that the civic body was facing resistance from members of the trade association.
Surface level
The NDMC said despite considerable number of cars being parked at the multi-level parking in the day, residents parked their cars on surface level at night.
Further, the NDMC informed the NGT that association members were unwilling to accept monthly parking passes which the civic body has been issuing.
However, the counsel for the Delhi government informed the Bench that around 11,500 cars had been towed away from the area till date.
NGT ban
The NGT had on November 17 banned parking of cars on the surface level surrounding Sarojini Nagar market.
“Shop owners as well as customers coming to the market park their cars on metal roads causing heavy traffic congestion,” the Bench had observed.
