The Supreme Court on January 19, 2019, directed the Delhi government to take a decision on the ready-to-be-notified draft Parking Rules and Guidelines within 10 days and give an undertaking on purchase of buses as committed in their affidavit. The SC bench, comprising Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Depak Gupta, was reviewing the implementation of the Comprehensive Clean Air Action Plan (CAP).
The court also asked the government to resolve its differences over implementation of rapid rail system. This helps bring a sense of urgency for urban mobility and public transport strategies for clean air.
This SC directive has given the final push to the much-awaited Parking Rules and Guidelines that have been finalised for notification after going through a process of expert and public consultation as well as inter-departmental consultation including Law department clearances.
They are still in files when the Transport Department of Delhi has also finalised the rules and guidelines for parking management in congruence with MPD-2021, mandating detail parking management plans for all areas.
This initiative has also spurred local action.In Lajpat Nagar, a prominent commercial centre in Delhi, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, local shopkeepers’ association and others have started organising parking. But for this action to gather momentum across the city and follow right design and principles for parking area management plans, the draft rules will have to be notified immediately.
The draft Parking Rules is a consensus document of all concerned departments. The rules have asked for parking area management plans across wards so that legal parking areas are identified and demarcated and there is no encroaching into green areas, footpaths, bus stops or intersections and lanes are kept free for emergency vehicles.
It proposes penalty for illegal parking and variable parking pricing to manage peak parking demand. It has also asked for sharing of available parking facilities for optimal use between different peak users in the area. Under the rules, parking revenue must be earmarked for local area improvement. While parking pricing is about moderating and influencing demand for parking usage and change in behaviour, parking pricing cannot be imposed in isolation and unrelated to overall parking management strategy for an area, say the rules.
Currently, the government is working with ad hoc decisions and only isolated measures like multi-level parking structures without any area management plans for spot fixing. Instead of reducing parking chaos, these structures only attract more parked vehicles, worsening congestion in the area. Some structures have remained under-utilised without area-wide management.
Delhi needs city-wide good parking management and also enforcement and pricing strategy to reduce parking demand simultaneously.