Delhi parking wars intensify, over 7,000 calls to police this year

Till October 25 this year, the Delhi Police received 7,328 calls reporting violent disputes over parking on neighbourhood roads — more than the cumulative number of such calls received in the previous two years, shows official data shared by the police.

According to data, the police received 3,367 and 2,413 parking disputes related calls in 2022 and 2021 (3,145 and 2,267 till October 25), respectively. Besides injuries to scores of people in these clashes over parking space, three people have died in the cases reported in the past three years, according to data.

On February 17 this year, a 52-year-old man and his son, returning home from a wedding, were shot and injured by their neighbour and his friends following an altercation over parking of their cars in north-east Delhi’s Yamuna Vihar.

On June 25, two brothers were allegedly stabbed by their neighbour in north Delhi’s Kirari area after an argument over parking a scooter.

Similarly, on July 3, a 37-year-old man and his parents were allegedly thrashed with sticks by their neighbours during a quarrel over parking a motorcycle in outer Delhi’s Mangolpuri.

These incidents show a disturbing problem that is symptomatic of a city that has maximum number of registered vehicles but very few organised parking spaces. However, police data indicates that the problem has only grown acute this year.

The highest number of such calls – 816 – were received from west district, followed by 766 (south-west), 702 (south) and 682 (Dwarka), shows the data. Also, of the total 7,380 calls till October 25, 43% (3,190) were received after June 30 this year, according to the data.

The number of vehicles registered in Delhi has witnessed a huge drop from 12.2 million in 2020-21 to 7.9 million in 2021-22, according to the Delhi Economic Survey 2022-23.

Of 7.9 million vehicles in the Capital, personal cars and jeeps account for around 26%, while around 66.5% are two-wheelers, according to the survey. In addition, Delhi has 85,033 taxis, 17,522 buses, 1,145 ambulances and 93,578 auto rickshaws.

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This sharp decrease in number can largely be attributed to the deregistration of end-of-life vehicles — no vehicle which is 15 years old can legally operate on the roads of the national capital, according to orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (2015) and the Supreme Court (2018).

Delhi Police spokesperson Suman Nalwa said attending to such calls puts additional burden on the time of police. “Every month, on an average, there are 700 PCR calls regarding quarrels due to parking issues. Every day, the number of vehicles in the city is increasing without any commensurate availability of parking spaces. Thus, the conflict between neighbours on parking, specially on neighbourhood roads, leads to fights. Our emergency vehicles and local police spend a lot of time dealing with these calls,” she said.

Experts said the police cannot resolve the issue that is at the root of the problem.

BK Singh, former joint commissioner of Delhi Police and now a Supreme Court lawyer, said the problem has grown over the years as the vehicle density in the city is at peak. “The police have no solution for this issue. The city lacks parking spaces even as the number of vehicles are increasing by the day. People are forced to leave their vehicles on the road and disputes are common. Sometimes, it takes an ugly turn and results in violence,” he said.

Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, said the city has failed to implement the Parking Management Rules (PMR) 2019, and its mandate for parking management area plan in each municipal ward.

“This was needed to ensure legal parking spaces are identified and demarcated on ground across neighbourhoods, variable parking pricing and residential parking permits are implemented, and penalty for illegal parking outside the demarcated areas is enforced. This is essential not only to manage parking efficiently but also to reduce demand for parking and emissions, improve efficient use of available but limited parking spaces, and improve overall liveability of the city,” she said.

Atul Goyal, president, URJA, an organisation of 2,500 resident welfare associations (RWA) across Delhi, said despite knowing the gravity of parking issues in the Capital, the state government, the traffic police and Municipal Corporation of Delhi have failed to frame guidelines, in complete defiance of the Master Plan of Delhi and directions by various courts.

“URJA has been raising the issue over the past decade. The figures released by the Delhi Police are alarming and the city agencies must implement a parking policy across Delhi without delay,” he said, and added that parking management action plans must be prepared at colony and ward level taking RWAs on board within the next six months.