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The parking mess of Delhi

The parking mess of Delhi

NEW DELHI: With more than 75 lakh active vehicles on the road, the capital faces massive parking problems, further causing road blockages and traffic jams. The parking problem gets worse at the time of weekends, when the open market areas are completely crammed full with commuters walking around, shopkeepers selling things on pavement and most of them parking their vehicles at the wrong side. Manoj Singh, a worker in the New Delhi Municipal Corporation said, “There is an unplanned handling of parking spaces. On weekends the rush is uncontrollable hence complete disorder.”

Conversely, after the newly amended Motor Vehicle Act came into effect, the increase in penalty rates has become a massive complication for Delhites. Mansi Sharma, a commuter, said, “It’s a routine issue. There are no sufficient spaces for parking and the spaces built are jam-packed. I have to leave home early so that I get a parking space.” The efforts by the government have failed to address the problems of people. Consequently, car owners park in public place which causes road congestion. Kuldeep Kumar, a Municipal Corporation official, said, “The issue is not only with less parking spaces but people’s heedless behavior amounting to mayhem.” Kumar further cites an example of Krishna Nagar, “BJP government had built a parking lot last year but hasn’t started it. This caused two major problems –the revenue is eventually at a halt and people are getting affected for a year.”

Delhi is considered the worst city in the world in terms of the availability and quality of parking spaces. Anju Kamal Kant, Mayor of EDMC, said, “Media make things look different. We have always ensured excessive space for parking.” However, she blames the previous AAP government for not releasing enough funds. She says, “On the one hand the AAP government denies to raise funds for the municipal corporation and on the other provides ten crores to their MLAs.”

Perhaps, it will be a good idea to channel the funds and resources for building adequate parking spaces for strengthening the public system. Anju further mentioned some of the upcoming projects by EDMC “Last week, we had a standing committee meeting in which we have planned to make new lots in Preet Vihar area and build open-parking spaces of about eighty slots. We aren’t able to perform effectively because of lack of funds.”

Then there is an open secret about the corruption in the police that is assigned the duty of regulating the traffic. In Delhi, half of the available road space in any main street is encroached by traders and street vendors, and they are paying to the police and municipal authorities to survive. The estimated collection of this speed money “hafta” runs in several crores of rupees and it is impossible to curb this menace. The entire city is running on half of the total road space made available for commuters, it leads to regular jams and chaos.

To save the city from the increasing disaster, government must increase parking charges on hourly basis in the main city centre and important places in the city to discourage the people to travel on private vehicle and to promote the public transport: it will solve the parking problem, pollution related issues and save energy resources hence the saving of the national wealth.

LARAIB FATIMA: Writer is JMI Media student and a regular columnist with Opinion Express.

The parking mess of Delhi

The parking mess of Delhi

NEW DELHI: With more than 75 lakh active vehicles on the road, the capital faces massive parking problems, further causing road blockages and traffic jams. The parking problem gets worse at the time of weekends, when the open market areas are completely crammed full with commuters walking around, shopkeepers selling things on pavement and most of them parking their vehicles at the wrong side. Manoj Singh, a worker in the New Delhi Municipal Corporation said, “There is an unplanned handling of parking spaces. On weekends the rush is uncontrollable hence complete disorder.”

Conversely, after the newly amended Motor Vehicle Act came into effect, the increase in penalty rates has become a massive complication for Delhites. Mansi Sharma, a commuter, said, “It’s a routine issue. There are no sufficient spaces for parking and the spaces built are jam-packed. I have to leave home early so that I get a parking space.” The efforts by the government have failed to address the problems of people. Consequently, car owners park in public place which causes road congestion. Kuldeep Kumar, a Municipal Corporation official, said, “The issue is not only with less parking spaces but people’s heedless behavior amounting to mayhem.” Kumar further cites an example of Krishna Nagar, “BJP government had built a parking lot last year but hasn’t started it. This caused two major problems –the revenue is eventually at a halt and people are getting affected for a year.”

Delhi is considered the worst city in the world in terms of the availability and quality of parking spaces. Anju Kamal Kant, Mayor of EDMC, said, “Media make things look different. We have always ensured excessive space for parking.” However, she blames the previous AAP government for not releasing enough funds. She says, “On the one hand the AAP government denies to raise funds for the municipal corporation and on the other provides ten crores to their MLAs.”

Perhaps, it will be a good idea to channel the funds and resources for building adequate parking spaces for strengthening the public system. Anju further mentioned some of the upcoming projects by EDMC “Last week, we had a standing committee meeting in which we have planned to make new lots in Preet Vihar area and build open-parking spaces of about eighty slots. We aren’t able to perform effectively because of lack of funds.”

Then there is an open secret about the corruption in the police that is assigned the duty of regulating the traffic. In Delhi, half of the available road space in any main street is encroached by traders and street vendors, and they are paying to the police and municipal authorities to survive. The estimated collection of this speed money “hafta” runs in several crores of rupees and it is impossible to curb this menace. The entire city is running on half of the total road space made available for commuters, it leads to regular jams and chaos.

To save the city from the increasing disaster, government must increase parking charges on hourly basis in the main city centre and important places in the city to discourage the people to travel on private vehicle and to promote the public transport: it will solve the parking problem, pollution related issues and save energy resources hence the saving of the national wealth.

LARAIB FATIMA: Writer is JMI Media student and a regular columnist with Opinion Express.

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