Parking rates up by 400%, entry of trucks banned

EXCEPT FOR ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES, NO ENTRY OF HEAVY AND MEDIUM SIZED VEHICLES WILL BE ALLOWED

NEW DELHI: Delhiites will have to pay ₹80 from Thursday to park their vehicles for an hour at public parking lots due to the increased pollution. For 10 hours, they will need to pay a whopping ₹400 for parking.

Lieutenant Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal on Wednesday also banned construction work and entry of trucks into the city. The government also decided to shut down all schools — junior and senior classes included — till Sunday.

The three (east, west and south) municipal corporations and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Wednesday announced a four time increase in parking fees for private vehicles. However, the New Delhi Municipal Council said it was still waiting for Delhi government’s direction for increasing the parking rates.

The decision to hike parking rates has been taken to discourage use of cars to check vehicular emissions in the city. Vehicles contribute nearly 20% of the PM 2.5 load, one of the two major pollutants, fouling Delhi’s air.

“We have issued notification to the concerned officials. Also, the contractors (running parking lots) have been asked to display the L-G’S order outside the parking spaces to avoid any confrontation,” said Kamaljeet Sehrawat, mayor, South Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Puneet Goel, commissioner, of south corporation added that the arrangements will be in place for one week. “We will decide our future course of action after a review meeting later,” he said.

The three corporations have 252 parking lots. The charges from Thursday will be increased to R 80 per hour and R 40 per hour for cars and two-wheelers, respectively. This would be in addition to the per hour increase in parking rates by R 40 and Rs 20 for four and two-wheelers.

CONSTRUCTION BANNED

The L-G has asked the three municipal corporations, Delhi Pollution Control Committee and all construction agencies to stop construction works till further orders.

“Anybody found carrying construction activity will be fined as per the National Green Tribunal guidelines,” said a senior east corpoationofficial.

The L-G has also directed the municipal corporations of Delhi to depute 50 per cent of their staff to go to various sites across the city to ensure no dust pollution is caused due to construction and there is no burning of municipal solid waste.

ENTRY OF TRUCKS BANNED

Except for essential commodities, no entry of heavy and medium sized vehicles will be allowed in Delhi.

The Delhi Traffic Police, the government’s transport department and the municipal corporations have asked to keep a vigil at all the toll points.

The ban will be effective till Saturday night for now.