Delhi LG Anil Baijal Promises to Remove Illegal Parking
Although LG Baijal has been making plans to solve the parking problem for more than a year, he is not able to implement any of his plans.
By Rakesh Raman
The Lt. Governor (LG) of Delhi Anil Baijal chaired today a meeting with Delhi Police to ensure proper traffic management in the city.
According to a statement released by the LG office, it is a huge challenge to manage the rapidly increasing number of vehicles in Delhi. The statement added that there has been a 179% rise in vehicles as compared to 15% rise in road length since 2001.
LG Baijal issued directions for continuous encroachment removal drives and suggested that action must be taken against traffic violations and illegally parked vehicles. He also urged people to follow traffic laws.
Although Baijal has been making plans to solve the parking problem for more than a year, he is not able to implement any of his plans. All his armchair plans are discussed in closed-door meetings and vanish by the time the meetings end.
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As the number of private vehicles is increasing at an alarming rate in Delhi, the parking system has gone totally haywire. The increasing number of cars is a major irritant in the city because of traffic hassles and increasing vehicular pollution.
The parking problem is not only causing trouble in commercial areas, but housing colonies are also equally affected, as the managing committees in most housing complexes are not willing to solve the problem.
Chaired meeting of @DelhiPolice on traffic mgt. Huge challenge as 179% rise in vehicles v/s 15% rise in road length since 2001. Directed for continuous encroachment removal drives & action against tfc violations & illegally parked vehicles. Urge people to follow traffic laws. pic.twitter.com/gK13nhRK05
— LG Delhi (@LtGovDelhi) May 17, 2018
The Delhi High Court, for example, has ruled that only one car per flat will be allowed in housing society parking lots.
But Delhi Government has failed to check the menace and playing hand in glove with the corrupt managing committees of the housing societies that allow residents to park multiple vehicles inside the society premises under some secret deals with the erring residents.
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If the Lt. Governor wants to solve the parking problem, he must order a crackdown on housing societies that are exacerbating the problem by allowing multiple cars in the housing complexes. Plus, the government should not allow parking on roads outside the housing societies as it hampers the flow of traffic.
The plan must also aim to restrict the sale and purchase of new vehicles, as nearly 1 million vehicles are registered in a year in Delhi which now has an estimated 10 million vehicles in the city’s population of about 20 million.
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In order to streamline the parking system, Delhi Government also can introduce road space rationing to restrict the number of vehicles on roads. It is a transportation demand management system aimed to reduce traffic by restricting automobile travel. It restricts the use of cars based on the last digits of the license number.
Other road space rationing regulations include the even-odd license plate policy, yellow label car policy, end-number policy, and passenger car purchase policy. Moreover, there can be a passenger car quota system to put an upper limit to the number of cars that can be sold in a month.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
