Delhi civic bodies to rope in RWAs for chalking out parking spaces

At a parking lot in the city. (Express photo)

With the Draft Parking Policy for Delhi under review, the municipal corporations, under which most of the parking spaces in Delhi fall, have decided to rope in Resident Welfare Associations to take a call on the price and demarcate the spaces for parking.

A senior official of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said the model followed by them in Kailash Colony, Lajpat Nagar and Greater Kailash will be replicated in other areas too. SDMC is the nodal agency for earmarking parking spaces for north and east corporations.

“With the help of RWAs, we found out several areas where vehicles are parked illegally. We will include them in the legal parking zone, if we find them not obstructing traffic. There are other areas that are legal parking zones but have been obstructing traffic, so the facility has been removed from there,” he said.

After the demarcation drive in these areas, the South body has discovered that it has about 650 parking spaces in Lajpat Nagar, 200 in Kailash Colony.

“We will conduct on-the-spot meeting with RWAs, so that they can tell us the problem an area is facing and with their help, the parking space will be earmarked in all the areas,” he said.

A meeting with the L-G to discuss the plan will also be held next week. Delhi Transport Department officials said the Draft Parking Policy is expected to be cleared soon and the L-G is also taking keen interest in the matter. “The transport department, in fixing parking prices, can only act as an advisory body as the power to fix prices is with the standing committee of the municipal corporations. The department is overseeing the work, and the model presented by the SDMC is workable,” a senior official said.