Now, pay more for parking in Delhi

New Delhi: Parking rates in areas under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi are set to increase from next month with the civic body deciding to raise the license fee of contractors in a bid to crack down on the ‘parking mafia’.

"Parking contractors in MCD areas are charging more than the stipulated Rs five from gullible citizens. So we have decided to increase their license fee as well as the rates so that the civic body gets its due share of revenue," a senior official said.

The contractors have been given time till November 10 to decide whether they want to register afresh or not. The new rates to be implemented from December 15 are Rs 10 for 10 hours and Rs 20 for 24 hours, bringing them at par with those in NDMC areas, the official said.

Apart from this, the MCD has registered around 30 more parking contractors across the city.

"Parking in Delhi is under the control of a select 10-15 contractors. In a bid to break their hold, the civic body has registered these new contractors," the official said.

"Most of these new contractors are from an Army background so more discipline can be expected from them," he added.

In its submission before the two-member Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee to review the parking problem in the Capital, the civic body has said it has taken a host of steps like auctioning sites for fully automated and multi-level parking lots.

A total of 225 lots have been auctioned till now, the MCD apprised the committee on October 28.

19 multi-level parking lots would come up before the Commonwealth Games 2010, out of which studies have been carried out for the construction of eight, which will come up in areas like Greater Kailash I and II, Karol Bagh, Parade Ground and Kamla Nagar.

The panel has further directed that the identified lots should be put on the website so that residents of the Capital are aware of them.

Beginning November 15, the MCD will enforce single lane parking in its areas to ease traffic. "There are usually huge traffic jams in and around parking lots as the vehicles parked in a haphazard way spill over to the roads blocking traffic," an official said.