South Delhi hikes parking rates, others to follow

NEW DELHI: The South Delhi Municipal Corporation on Wednesday hiked parking charges and introduced hourly rates, setting the stage for similar hikes in other areas of the capital. The new rates will be Rs 20 per hour for surface parking.

The North and East corporations are now likely to increase parking charges by the end of this week despite the fact that the three civic bodies have so far completed only three of the 41 parking projects undertaken. The current rates are Rs 10 for the first 10 hours and Rs 20 thereafter.

The proposal to raise tariffs was cleared in the South corporation's House on Wednesday. "The parking rates in New Delhi areas were recently increased and it was time our corporation did the same. The existing rates are very low and experts have been pushing for the proposal to increase parking charges to discourage people from using their vehicles for short distances. To promote public transport, it is important that the parking rates are increased" said Subhash Arya, leader of the House.

Congress councillors walked out of the House in protest against the hike, saying the corporation first needs to bring the large number of illegal parking sites under their ambit.

"Increasing parking rates is no solution and it will burden the public. This increase is for the benefit of the parking mafia and not the public. We need to first crackdown on illegal parking and boost our revenue from there. There are reports of parking contactors overcharging people and corporation must put a stop to it," said Farhad Suri, leader of opposition, South corporation.

To promote multi-level parking lots, the rates for these have been kept lower. "It has been observed that people prefer using surface level parking lots though multi-level parking lots are vacant. To promote them the rates are kept lower," Arya said.

There is, however, little movement on the proposal to introduce handheld device. The use of these devices was mooted to ensure that parking attendants do not fleece people. The proposal to give handheld devices to parking attendants was cleared in 2009 and a pilot project was to start in Lajpat Nagar. Till date, no device has been purchased. "We will start purchasing the machines now," said Manish Gupta, commissioner, South corporation.

Although the present rate is Rs 10 for 10 hours, many parking sites have been charging Rs 20. "In many places, parking attendants are giving slips that have Rs 20 per entry written on them. Already people are paying twice the official rate and corporations aren't able to do anything," said CR Park councillor Virender Kasana.

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