Need 24-hr vigil to clear roads at Sarojini Nagar Mkt: NGT
NEW DELHI : The National Green Tribunal on Monday asked the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) to maintain a 24-hour vigil at the Sarojini Nagar market to ensure vehicles are not parked on the roads around it.
A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked the civic body and the traffic police to ensure deployment of appropriate personnel at the market in South Delhi
“You (traffic police) deploy force even at night so that people don’t park their vehicles on the road,” the bench said.
The observation came after advocate Sakshi Popli, appearing for NDMC, told the tribunal that though visitors were parking their vehicles at the multilevel facility in the day, shopkeepers were parkin their cars on the roads at night.
She informed the bench that the NDMC was still facing noncooperation from the shop owners as they were unwilling to take monthly passes which costs around R2,000, for the multi-level parking.
The lawyer said additional police force should be deployed to ban surface parking in the market.
Advocate Tarunvir Singh Khehar, appearing for the Delhi traffic police, told the NGT that they have towed away 11,500 cars to date.
Rejecting the market association’s plea, the NGT had on November 17 banned parking in the market and said violators would be fined R5,000 as environmental compensation, in addi- tion to the fines mentioned under the Motor Vehicles Act.
The green panel had directed shopkeepers and shoppers to park their vehicles at the multilevel parking lot built by the NDMC, which remains open round-the-clock.
The NGT had directed the corporation to consider reducing the parking fees for shopkeepers who live in the area.
It had directed the NDMC to cancel the contract of the surface parking lot.