DRAFT PARKING POLICY OF DELHI GOVT : SUGGESTIONS
12th July, 2017
Special Commissioner Transport
Room No. 208, Second Floor,
Transport Department, GNCT of Delhi,
5/9 Underhill Road, Delhi-110054.
Dear Sir,
You can decide and Fix any parking charges for the parking of vehicles in the Markets, Commercial places, multilevel parking, to de - congest the roads and to control the pollution.
But you should never allow any Day, and / or Night parking charges from the residents for parking their own vehicles outside their own homes. Please note as below in this regard:
1. Please note, for every sale of all such vehicles Govt has already earned a huge share in VAT, EXCISE, Registration charges, Road Tax as well the service tax on the insurance policies of these vehicles, and the Income tax from the genuine buyers. They are already earning a lot on the sale of Petrol and Diesel for all these vehicles. Even after the GST regime, they still have a huge share out of the 28% levied on vehicles.
2. It’s sad and shocking that now Govt is eying the parked vehicles of the residents, outside their own home. They are absolutely wrong in saying that residents are using Free of charge space for parking their own vehicles, outside their own homes.
3. When the colonies were developed years ago, prices of plots were decided on the basis of the size of inner roads in that area. The posh localities had wide inner lanes and therefore cost of plots was on the higher side. The middle / upper middle colonies had a bit smaller roads and therefore cost of plots was lesser than the posh localities. Whereas, the lower colonies had narrow lanes, and hence the cost of plots was also on the lower side.
4. Now after 40 – 50 years, if Govt says that these colonies are using the public land Free of cost, THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY WRONG, as we have already paid the price of such inner lanes via the purchase price of our residential plots. Do you think that developers of these colonies were that much fool to offer inner lanes free of cost, causing huge losses.
5. Moreover, there is no traffic in the inner lanes, except in the commercial areas, and no one is degrading the pedestrian environment in any way. Instead, it’s the policies of the Governments that degrade everything to levy a charge later on.
6. Sometime Emergency vehicles face some problem while entering the inner lane, and it must be given a serious thought that how Govt can purchase such emergency vehicles that can easily enter the narrow inner lanes. But how do they think that by charging the parking charges, way for the emergency vehicles will be opened automatically ?
7. Instead of restricting the sale of new vehicles in Delhi, Govt is now eying to earn more by way of HUGE PARKING Charges on all the vehicles parked by residents, outside their home.
8. The problem has erupted as Govt has not formed any vehicular policy for the sale and purchase of Vehicles. Everyone is free to buy any number of vehicles as Govt is GETTING HUGE SUMS BY WAY OF VAT, EXCISE, ROAD TAX, SERVICE TAX and, GST NOW of 28% and that too after paying Income Tax. Why don’t they attach the vehicles with the Pan Card to check and control the sales of vehicles ?
9. A typical vehicle stays parked 95 per cent of the time. A 2006 study by the Central Road Research Institute in New Delhi estimate that of the 8,760 hours in a year, an average car’s steering time is only 400 hours. This means it is driven for only about an hour a day. In Delhi this may be 3 to 4 hours a day. It clearly means that while parked at home, these vehicles for the 95% of time are not contributing to any Congestion or pollution.
Therefore, Govt must concentrate on the 5% time of these vehicles while they are either congesting the roads or polluting the environment and hence must levy hefty charges and penalties so that residents are forced to leave them in the parking itself.
It will automatically discourage the sale of new vehicles, though Govt may be against this policy as it will impact its own kitty.
Therefore we are absolutely against the imposition of any parking charges from the residents, for the parked vehicles outside their home as it will lead to unnecessary harassment and chaos.
Thanks
B S Vohra
President,
East Delhi RWAs Joint Front
