Since the distance between home and office is short, I go to work by bicycle. But in South Delhi’s Aurobindo Marg and Hauz Khas Market – where we can assume that rules and regulations will be followed better than in other cities – the behavior of the educated rich drivers is surprising. There is an acute shortage of parking in all our cities. For example, according to government data, there are 7 lakh four-wheelers in Ahmedabad, but authorized parking is less than 6000! Even where there is adequate parking facility (such as on-street and underground parking available in Hauz Khas Market), people park large vehicles in the middle of the road. Sometimes people are sitting in the car, busy on the phone or eating or drinking something, as if sitting in their drawing room. Why? Just because it costs them Rs 30 for parking. Some people believed that cheaper Uber-Ola taxis would be an improvement. If people take taxi, private vehicles will not be parked on the road. But even in the shady parts of major roads, queues of taxis can be seen while riding, eating or relaxing. Parking on the road in the market is mostly not parallel, so vehicles occupy a large part of the road. The entire road gets jammed. Cyclists are less affected by this. The bicycle passes even in traffic jams. On reaching the front, it is seen that the vehicle owner/driver who is causing the jam is giving rest to the troubled people behind. The arbitrary will of one causes harm to many. Vehicles parked on the road block traffic and are a public nuisance. Traffic jams lead to wastage of time and also increase petrol consumption and pollution. Due to the narrowness of the road, motorists/two-wheelers have to walk in the middle of the road, due to which there is a fear of accident. In many cities of the country, lakhs of vehicles are allowed to be parked on public roads for free throughout the year. This is also a serious issue. In other countries there are strict rules for parking vehicles on the road. In the UK, when people park their car on the street outside their house, they have to buy a parking permit for 3, 6 or 12 months. Its price depends on the type of vehicle. Permits for high polluting vehicles are expensive. The annual parking permit for a car there ranges from 90-300 pounds. Actually, there are such permits in Delhi also. But not for motor vehicles, but for street vendors. In Hauz Khas, the annual permit for a 4×6 feet street vendor (a small vehicle also occupies approximately the same space) is Rs 4254. If half of the 20 lakh vehicles in Delhi are on public roads and the same rate is applicable to them, then revenue of about Rs 400 crore will be generated. There was a budget of Rs 340 crore for the free bus scheme for women in Delhi in 2024-25. There is a lot of discussion in the name of Revadi, but the annual loss of Rs 400 crore caused by vehicles is not counted. Looking at the roads of the capital, one might think that out of the 11 categories in the parking policy, the first right on the road is for pedestrians, bicycles and disabled people, then for street vendors and then for private vehicles like pickup/drop, EV and paid parking. But in reality the opposite is happening and this is equally true for other cities too. The corporation regularly takes action against encroachment, but no one talks about private vehicles on public roads. Why don’t we recognize this as encroachment? We forget that roads are ultimately public property. Those who can buy a car worth lakhs and burn thousands of rupees worth of petrol, why not charge some amount for parking their car on a public road? (These are the author’s own views)
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Ritika Khera’s Column: How right is it for private vehicles to camp on public roads?
