Grap: Parking fee hike yet to be implemented in Delhi

Authorities in the Capital are yet to increase parking fees, a key element of Stage 2 of the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) that came into force on Saturday. Stage 2 of the anti-pollution plan allows civic agencies to charge motorists more for public parking to curb the use of private vehicles as air quality in the region worsens.

A senior official of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) associated with parking management said that the civic body would need approval from the House of councillors to hike the parking fee. The official added that undertaking measures under Stage 2 assumes a sense of urgency when the air quality deteriorates, but that an actual change in parking norms requires layers of execution on the ground.

“These are only the early stages of the pollution season setting in and the directions are under consideration. We cannot directly increase the parking charges across the city. This is a policy decision that needs approval from the House of councillors. We are planning to put forward a preamble in this regard in the meeting on Friday. The problem is that the air quality keeps on fluctuating while these decisions need several steps for execution on the ground,” the official said while clarifying that the quantum of the hike has also not been decided yet.

Parking fee hikes are a fraught issue in the national capital, and rates have been unchanged in the city since November 2017, when MCD put in place a four-times increase under Grap. The hike remained in effect for just seven days — between November 9 and 16 — but led to a muddle of chaos, officials said, after which it was never enforced again.

A senior official associated with the parking services in the corporation said that the four-fold hike was “found to be unproductive” as people started parking outside designated areas to avoid paying, defeating the purpose behind the hike.

While issuing the rate-hike withdrawal order in 2017, the erstwhile South MCD said that as a result of the rate-hike, “chaotic traffic conditions had occurred and traffic jams were reported from many areas, though a considerable portion of the authorised parking areas remained vacant.”

In an order setting in motion Stage 2 of Grap, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on October 21 said that “to prevent further deterioration of the air quality, the subcommittee has decided that all actions as envisaged under Stage II of the Grap be implemented in right earnest by all the agencies concerned in the NCR, with immediate effect” which includes “enhance parking fees to discourage private transport.”

However, the federal anti-air pollution agency did not detail the quantum of the parking fee hike in its order.

Under the current parking fee slab, four-wheelers are charged ₹20 per hour with a maximum of ₹100 per day while two-wheelers are charged ₹10 per hour. MCD operates 403 parking lots across the city out of which 390 are surface parking sites while 13 are multilevel parking sites.

Meanwhile, the civic body is also exploring checking pollution under control (PUC) certificates at its parking facilities to aid the anti-pollution drive, a second senior municipal official said. “The vehicles with non-valid PUC may be barred from parking at the facilities. The suggestion was floated in the recent pollution control measures review meeting and it is under active consideration,” a second official said.

Experts said that a hike in public parking fees can only be effective if it is coupled with enforcement to prevent people from parking in non-designated areas. “For instance, if someone is moving from Dwarka to CP, the parking fee should be much higher in Connaught Place so that people can be encouraged to adopt public transport,” said Amit Bhatt, International Council on Clean Transportation managing director (India), said, the parking fee hike can only be effective if it is.

Anumita Roychowdhury, the executive director, Research and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment who has worked on the parking policy for Delhi said that by now the notified Parking rules and Parking Management Area Plans should have been implemented in all municipal wards in Delhi.

“Without the enforcement of area-wide rules for demarcated legal parking areas, variable parking pricing and penalty for illegal parking, only hiking parking rates in selected commercial areas will not be effective. Parking needs to happen only in legally demarcated parking areas of a ward with stringent penalties for illegal parking. Only this can reduce demand for parking, usage of personal vehicles and reduce emissions,” she said.

HT reached out to MCD which did not respond to queries seeking comments.