MCD likely to again push for increasing parking fee in Delhi

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) plans to make another push for increasing the parking fee rates across Delhi in compliance with the Graded Response Action Plan (Grap) to tackle air pollution, senior officials said on Monday.
Unlike New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which doubled parking rates on October 22, the MCD needs an approval of the house of councillors to enforce a city-wide parking fee change, according to a senior MCD official.
“We had put up a proposal before the house of councillors to increase the parking fee as per Grap mandate, but it was referred back by the elected wing. Last time, we had pushed for a four-time parking fee hike, but this time a proposal for doubling the fee would be introduced,” the official cited above said.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), in a meeting last Friday, directed MCD to ensure proper implementation of the August 20 order which mandates rationalisation of parking fees for private vehicles to encourage use of public transportation. It has been 13 days now that Delhi’s air quality has been in the “very poor” category.
Under the normal parking fee slab for surface parking, the four wheelers are charged ₹20 per hour with maximum of ₹100 for a day. The two wheelers are charged ₹10 per hour. In case of multilevel parking sites, the charges are ₹10 for up to four hours for cars, and ₹5 up to four hours for two-wheelers.
On October 22, NDMC had issued orders doubling the parking fee rates in parking sites managed by the civic body in New Delhi area in wake of deterioration of air quality in the city and Stage 2 of Grap being enforced. MCD manages more than 96% of Delhi’s geographical area and it has not enforced the hike and the civic body will need approval of house of councillors to increase the rates. The parking rates in the MCD areas were last increased by four times in November 2017 under Grap.
NDMC had also doubled the parking fee between November 13, 2023 and February 20, 2024 during last winter pollution season. An NDMC official said that there has not been a drastic change in the vehicle occupancy in the parking lots. “The demand of the parking sites especially during the festive season was too high. The parking rate increase hardly makes any difference when the demand is so high,” official added.