Notices to malls, hospitals in east Delhi for charging parking fees
NEWDELHI: A fortnight after directing shopping malls and hospitals under its jurisdiction to make parking free, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has issued show cause notices to 15 such establishments for charging a fee to avail of the facility.
EDMC mayor Bipin Bihari on Friday said action would be taken against shopping malls and hospitals if they failed to answer the notice within a week.
The civic body had on December 7 ordered owners of malls and hospitals in its jurisdiction not to take parking charges from visitors. Issuing a public notice on December 12, it said non-compliance would attract stern action.
“We have been getting complaints that parking charges are being collected at several malls and hospitals. We have issued show cause notices to the owners and they will have to reply within a week. If the response is unsatisfactory, strict action would be taken against defaulters,” Bihari added.
According EDMC officials, show cause notices have been served to 10 malls and five hospitals, including V3S Mall (Laxmi Nagar), Dharamshila Hospital (Vasundhra Enclave), Max Hospital (Patparganj).
“As per the Master Plan of Delhi 2021, parking spaces in hospitals, malls and commercial establishments are free of the FAR (floor area ratio) rule, so they cannot be used commercially. The collection of parking charges amounts to commercial use, which is against the rules,” a senior official of the EDMC, who did not wish to be identified, said.
Authorities at Max Hospital in Patparganj said “no notice” has been issued to them. They said they were “not charging” parking fee from visitors. Dharamshila Hospital officials said they had “no idea” about any such notice.
“We stopped taking parking fee on EDMC’S orders. At present, visitor parking at our hospital is free. We have no idea about any such show cause notice,” a representative from the security wing of the hospital said. Authorities at V3S Mall could not be contacted for their response.