On Friday, the municipal corporation of Delhi decided to increase the one time parking charges on new vehicles by up to eighteen percent. The new parking charges will be somewhere between Rs. 6000 to Rs. 75,000 and will be applicable starting 1st of January 2019. The transport department collects the parking charges on behalf of the municipal corporations, which claims that it is meant for creating parking infrastructure in Delhi.
The proposal to hike the parking charges was due since quite some time as Delhi has been facing the everlasting issue of pollution during the winter season. A few years ago, they even came up with the odd even rule which brought about no respite to this issue. Starting January, many car manufacturers have decided to increase the prices of their vehicles. Along with this extra parking charge, people in Delhi-NCR will only to shell out more for their drives.
According to the order, based on the cost of a vehicle, the one-time parking charge for private cars and SUVs will range between Rs 6,000 and Rs 75,000, 18 times the existing rate of Rs. 4,000. The process of charging the money during vehicle registration is prescribed through notification of Union Urban Affairs Ministry, not by the transport department. Ms Joshi, who has taken charge as North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s commissioner, told PTI. The transport department only acts like the post office in the process, she said.
The order angered bus and taxi operators as the annual parking fee for different categories of commercial vehicles will rise from the existing Rs. 2,500- Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 10,000- Rs. 25,000. The president of Delhi Tourist Taxi Transport Association Sanjay Samrat was agitated about this decision and said. “We will protest against the Delhi government,” he said. He added that they will meet the Lieutenant Governor to appeal for a rollback of the hike. The hike will boost finances of the civic body, but it also seems likely that the sale of vehicle from the state would go down and people will start buying vehicles from other neighbouring states.