The LG's high-powered committee, headed by the chief secretary, had recommended hiking parking charges several-fold and declaring 'no tolerance zones'; but this plan has now fallen through, faced with resistance from corporations.
Corporations have not agreed to hike rates, claiming BJP promised in its manifesto not to raise costs of goods and services. Officials, who declined to be quoted, said corporations are waiting for elections in Delhi and won't take step before government is formed.
The environment department, which is coordinating the implementation of recommendations of the committee, hit this roadblock recently when corporations refused to make any changes in parking fee. The plan was to hike parking fee by about five times in areas where there is a multi-level parking facility and marginally in areas where there is no multi-level parking.
The parking fee for multi-level car parking is about Rs 10 per hour and that for surface parking managed by the corporations is about Rs 20 per hour. North Corporation has about 90 parking lots, South, too, has 90 while East Corporation has 30.
"The corporations had got the directions from the LG's task force headed by chief secretary to make surface parking charges at par with, say, those in malls. But corporations rejected it. The reasons could be political. The average cost of cars in Delhi is about Rs 7 lakh. Parking fee does not affect the poor, so I don't see why it can't be done. Areas such as Gaffar Market, Ajmal Khan Road and Arya Samaj are in a horrible state with all the space occupied by cars," said a senior official from North Corporation. The environment department is clueless about how this issue can be resolved. They plan to approach the urban development ministry.
Environmentalists say having an air pollution fighting plan without parking interventions is useless. "Globally, restraint measures like hiking parking charges are used to manage congestion and air pollution. Boston, for instance, implemented a parking 'freeze' to meet air quality standards in 1973. This was to freeze any more new parking areas to act as a restraint. People should pay the right cost for using public space. Parking policy is the probably the most important aspect of winning the air pollution fight," said Anumita Roychowdhury, head of CSE's clean air programme.
The LG had formed the high-powered committee after a WHO urban air quality database earlier this year found the highest PM2.5 (fine, respirable particles) in Delhi among 1,600 cities globally. The committee is chaired by the chief secretary and comprises the special CP (traffic), secretary (environment), commissioner (transport) and additional secretary (DPCC). Apart from parking fee hike, it recommended strict implementation of pollution under control (PUC) norms, which meant that those who don't comply will not be given fuel at stations, implementing Euro5 fuel norms and using battery operated vehicles for last mile connectivity.
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