Delhiites will have to pay more for parking from November 1. Details here

Delhiites will have to pay up more parking fees for their vehicles from November 1. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) to review the parking charges for private vehicles to reduce air pollution and urge people to use public transport. 

The MCD overlooks parking lots in areas such as Anand Lok, Aurobindo Marg (IIT-Delhi to AIIMS), Geetanjali Enclave, Green Park Extension, Gulmohar Park, Kailash Colony, Lajpat Nagar Market, Malviya Nagar, Neeti Bagh, Panchsheel Enclave, Safdarjung, and Nizamuddin Basti. 

The NDMC, on the other hand, overlooks parking lots in areas including Rajpath, AIIMS, Sarojini Nagar Market, Khan Market, INA, and Safdarjung. 

The CAQM said that the exercise to review and rationalise the parking fees should be completed by September 30. The authorities have been directed to conduct this exercise by factoring in local area-specific integrated parking management plans and associated pricing plans. 

Commenting on the directive, Member-Secretary CAQM Arvind Nautiyal said that a statutory directive has been issued for the first time on this issue.

"This step will make it more binding for the authorities concerned to revise the fees comprehensively. Earlier, advisories were issues but no action was taken," he told The Indian Express.

The CAQM said that it has repeatedly called for a review of parking fees in meetings on air pollution in Delhi-NCR, but to no avail. The only exception was a limited increase in parking charges within the NDMC jurisdiction and only under Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) during 2023-24 winter. 

In November last year, the NDMC doubled the parking fees in its jurisdiction given the increasing pollution levels in Delhi. The GRAP is an emergency response mechanism to contain the deterioration in air quality during winter. It calls for raising parking fees to encourage individuals to use more public transport.