NEW DELHI:
Buyers of new cars or motorcycles will need to prove that they have space to park them if a proposal from the Union government announced Thursday is implemented.
The rule will likely make a significant dent in the annual increase of private car sales. As of March 2015, Delhi had more than 26 lakh cars, the highest in any Indian state.
“In future, it would be mandated that no permission would be given to any construction without a toilet… no car or vehicle will be registered without adequate parking space availability certificate,” Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu said at a government function in Delhi on Thursday.
“I am holding discussions with (road transport minister) Nitin Gadkari and also sensitising the states. We are moving in that direction”, Naidu added.
Experts welcomed the plan but said the execution faces a number of challenges.
Once the law is amended and notified, its implementation will fall on civic agencies and transport departments. The Centre will need to amend the motor vehicles law, changes to which are already pending parliamentary approval.
The 2016 amendment aims to address the issue of road safety and improve the processes for citizens dealing with transport departments, but they do not mention the particular parking norm. Once the law is amended and notified, its implementation would fall on civic agencies and transport departments of state government.
Systems will need to be put in place for inspection and certification of parking spaces that new vehicle buyers will require.
Civic officials said existing building bylaws and parking norms may need to be tweaked, which will have to be done by the urban development ministry. “Even though there is no framework as of now, officials from MCDs’ building department can carry out the inspection as they anyway visit sites to issue building plan and completion certificates,” an official said.
Government officials have also warned that implementation will not be easy since a third of Delhi’s population lives in unauthorised colonies. “Apart from illegal colonies, Delhi anyway does not have planned development,” an official said.
