Planning to buy a car? Make sure you can prove you have parking for the vehicle before going to the dealership. In meetings on the implementation of the new parking policy & its provision for region-wise parking area management, civic officials have said starting after Dec, there will be curbs on purchase of additional vehicles without parking space for them. Initially, the plan will be implemented in category A, B, C & D colonies. The Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) has already apprised Govt of Delhi & the municipal corporations about the implementation schedule.
“The new provisions mandate production of proof of parking at the time of purchasing a vehicle. Proof of parking can be in the form of a document issued by the civic authority, space ownership or photographs of space at the house,” the official explained, adding that the space could also be in the form of parking lots or multi-level parking within a fixed radius around the house.
The official said that “If the space allowed to a house is saturated, then the owners will have to wait till a vehicle gets sold or if the current vehicle outlives its 15-year lifetime for a new car".
A corporation official confided that city-wide implementation of the new rules will likely take around four months.
“We have already made local area plans for five regions, including the model projects in Lajpat Nagar, Karol Bagh & Kamla Nagar,” the official said.
The official added, “The final area plans will demarcate the no-parking zones in colonies. Municipal teams will be empowered to tow away any vehicles parked in such zones.”
Sunita Narain, member, EPCA, stated that while no deadline has been set, the body has written to Delhi Govt & the corporations.
She said that “We are calling a meeting this week to finalise the rollout schedule".
Traffic Police will enforce the policy on roads wider than 60ft, while the corporations will be responsible for smaller colony roads, the official disclosed. The ultimate aim is to regulate the number of vehicles on roads with the city having shot past its vehicle density capacity.
According to Delhi Govt’s transport department, the city has more vehicles than the combined vehicular population of Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata. Delhi has 85 private cars per 1,000 population against the national average of 8.
The plan will initially be put into operation only in the colonies in the higher A, B, C & D categories. “There is no space for on-road parking in the lower category colonies,” another corporation official pointed out. However, the issue of parking fees being charged in residential areas is a source of controversy, & the file with proposed parking rates is pending with the transport department.
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