Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that hiking parking fees during the implementation of the odd-even vehicle rationing scheme will be counterproductive.
Kejriwal’s statement came after the Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) chairman Bhure Lal had asked the Delhi Government last week to fix parking charges as per the new parking policy so that it could be hiked in view of growing air pollution.
Addressing media persons, the Chief Minister said, “It will become very difficult for people to travel if the odd-even scheme is implemented and parking fees are also hiked.”
“We are asking people to share their vehicles during odd-even days and if parking fees are increased, they will be deterred to take their vehicles out. There will be threat of chaos,” he said.
Speaking on the issue, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot refused that a report on parking fees was submitted to him. “I do not have information that any such report has been submitted. We will examine it whenever the report is submitted,” he said.
Meanwhile, officials of the Delhi Municipal Corporations said they are waiting for the final approval of the authorities on new parking norms, but they also assured that whatever be the new rules, no additional burden would be put on people by the civic bodies.
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the SDMC Bhupender Gupta said the Base Parking Fee (BPF) committee has recommended a hike in the fee by a “factor of 1-3” depending on peak hours and crowded areas such as markets. “Since, it is suggested to be increased by a factor of 1-3, we (SDMC) can increase it by a factor of one, so that it effectively the fee would remain the same. We do not want to put burden on the people unnecessarily,” Gupta said.
North Delhi Mayor Avtar Singh said the BPF committee has made recommendations to the apex monitoring committee for its final approval. “We will take steps from our side, once the final picture emerges. Whatever happens, we will take steps accordingly in a way that there is balanced approach so that we neither put burden on the people nor incur loss to the corporation,” Singh said.
