Write an article for a newspaper on insufficient parking space in Delhi and suggest some
measures also for overcoming the problem. You are Sanjay/Seema.
Answers
Delhi is considered the worst city in the world in terms of the availability and quality of parking space. While efforts by successive governments have failed to address the problem, the seven-month-old AAP government has done a U-turn on the parking policy. Its plan of action is very much in line with what transportation experts have been demanding for many years—higher parking rates, limited parking space and improvement in the public transport system.
At TOI’s roundtable on Delhi’s traffic and congestion problem last month, PWD minister Satyendar Jain had said that the government was not in favour of constructing more parking lots. “People buy a car for Rs 2 lakh and expect the government to construct parking for it for Rs 10 lakh. Why should the government do that? The government is not responsible for creating more parking for people. Parking is the responsibility of the person who has bought the car,” Jain had said.
While the government is firm on changing the parking policy, officials say it will take time to implement it. “The government will have to strengthen the public transport system before increasing parking rates. It is a long-term plan. We can’t inconvenience people by increasing the parking rates without providing adequate public transport,” said a source in the government.
As for new parking lots, no new multilevel parking lots should be planned till the time the sanctioned ones are made operational, say experts. At present, 12 multilevel parking lots are under construction. In the past eight years, only five multilevel lots have been built but three of these are underutilized.