Get ready to shell out more for parking in the Capital, both at commercial and residential areas, in addition to preparing yourself to be strictly penalised for parking at non-designated areas.
Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal has approved the draft notification for Delhi’s first comprehensive parking policy which, according to the Transport Department, will come into force by March.
The draft of the Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Rules 2017, framed under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and seeking to make illegal parking a criminal offence, has been put up for public consultation for 30 days following which its provisions will come into force.
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“This is the first time that a comprehensive parking policy is being supplemented by regulatory provisions to strictly enforce various provisions of the policy. The proposed rules shall apply to all public parking spaces within Delhi and also places for the use of general public like cinema halls, hospitals, malls, airport,” said a senior government official.
Provide proof
In addition to making parking on footpaths illegal at residential areas, the policy owners of vehicles will have to shell out fees as per rates agreed upon by civic bodies and local bodies such as Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs); so will, according to the policy, traders and shop owners at city markets.
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Owners of commercially-registered vehicles will have to provide proof of parking before being granted permits to operate.
Base fee
“A base parking fee will be recommended by a committee under the chairmanship of Commissioner (Transport) which will be called the Base Parking Fee Committee . The civic agencies will determine the parking fees based on the usage to reduce congestion,” the official said.
“Vehicles parked in residential areas shall also be subject to these rules; parking will be allowed in demarcated spaces in residential areas against parking charges to be decided by civic agencies in consultation with RWAs. On-street parking would be priced at least thrice as much as off-street parking. No surface parking shall ordinarily be allowed within 500 metres of multi-level or stack parking,” the official added.
On-street parking
According to a source, on-street parking for the first hour would be priced at least twice as much as off-street parking.
It will increase exponentially with time to discourage long duration of on-street parking.
Dynamic pricing mechanisms such as peak and off-peak fees and exponential increase per hour of use would be used to moderate parking demand.
Illegal parking
“All illegally parked vehicles will be towed and plenty of new legal parking lots will be made available soon,” the official added.
According to the official, an Apex Monitoring Committee headed by the Chief Secretary, Delhi, will review the proper implementation and compliance of these rules.
Civic agencies shall prepare and implement local area specific, integrated parking plans (Area Parking Plans) as envisaged in the Master Plan for Delhi (MPD) 2021.
The rules propose to assign the responsibility of preparing area parking plans to Deputy Commissioners of zones of civic bodies, Chairman of New Delhi Municipal Council, Commissioner (Land), DDA and CEO of the Cantonment.
The enforcement powers for challaning of vehicles and to realise fine under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, will also be delegated to officers of the civic agencies.