MCD gives Asaf Ali Rd tourist tag to charge Rs 25 for parking

Friday , Jul 10, 2009
source:http://www.thaindian.com

Did you know that the Asaf Ali Road stretch, next to MCD's City Zone office which have `landmarks' like Delhi Stock Exchange, Delite Cinema and Chor Bizarre is a major tourist attraction? Well, if you vehemently disagree, consider this the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) believes this road should be one of the three parking areas in the Capital where `premier tourist parking' charges are to be levied Rs 25 for up to 12 hours!

The other two places where this amount is charged include the parking area in front of Appu Ghar and Lotus Temple.

When its bizarre logic was challenged on Thursday, the civic agency claimed that the area had stopped being a `major tourist attraction' but it had continued charging Rs 25 to discourage people from parking on the road. Most visitors to the area, however, still park on the road with the parking attendants having only extended the area. This was admitted by City Zone deputy commissioner Vijay Singh, who claimed action would be initiated against the parking contractors soon.

Interestingly, MCD has an underground parking facility on this road which charges Rs 10. A senior MCD official explained the logic: " In Delhi, there are three premier parking areas. One of them is Asaf Ali Road, due to the large number of tourists that throng the area. Over the years, the number of tourists have dropped and we tried to discourage parking on the road but nothing worked. Finally, we decided to continue charging Rs 25 for people parking on the road.'' Two-wheelers have to pay Rs 15.

Visitors often have altercations with the parking attendants here. Many can't believe that MCD would resort to such irrational logic to fleece people. The suspicion usually is that the parking contractor is conning them.

Said Rama Rai, a resident of South Extension: "I don't pay that kind of money to park in posh areas of south Delhi.'' Manjit Singh, a resident of Chandni Chowk, pointed out that it wasn't working as a deterrent either.

While this may be a charge sanctioned by MCD, just a kilometre away, at Mahavir Vatika, people are being illegally charged Rs 20 instead of Rs 10 for years and the corporation, despite several complaints, has failed to stop the loot.