Delhi: Use FASTag to pay for parking soon

NEW DELHI: To promote the use of FASTags at local parking lots in the city, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will be conducting a pilot project at its parking lot at Malcha Marg.
It has tied up with a concessionaire who will install boom barriers, FASTag readers, CCTV system and other equipment to facilitate the project. The parking lot has space for 70 vehicles.
In NDMC areas, there are 94 parking lots of which 40 are run by the civic body and the rest by a private concessionaire. The civic body has decided to adopt the system at its 40 parking lots depending on the outcome of the pilot project.
“The concessionaire will take two weeks to set up the system. After that, we will operate it for two months and based on the usage and demand, we will make a decision for other parking lots,” said an NDMC official. However, the facility for collecting cash parking fees from the visitors will continue to avoid inconvenience to anyone, he stated.
“The parking lots run by NDMC are operated manually and have no automatic collection system in place. This will make it easier for the concessionaire to set up the FASTag reader system and other equipment here. Considering the tag has been made mandatory by the ministry of road transport and highways at tolls across the country, installation of the system to deduct parking fees from these tags at local parking lots will motivate all to use the tag. For us also, it will make things easier as keeping the record of daily collection at parking lots will not be a headache,” said the NDMC official, adding that at least 91 per cent people have obtained FASTag in the city.
As of now, the parking lots in Connaught Place and neighbouring areas are maintained and operated by the private concessionaire and provide space for at least 6,000 vehicles. Parking lots at Sarojini Nagar, Yashwant Place, Khan Market, Laxmibai Nagar, etc, provide space for around 4,000 vehicles and are operated by NDMC.
Officials added that the daily collection from parking lots with FASTag facility will be updated at NDMC’s control and command system automatically and this will minimise chances of error, corruption and bring more transparency to the system. “Each and every amount deducted through FASTag will be immediately credited to the designated account,” said the official.