Action against illegal car parking

Tuesday, Feb 01, 2011




Coming down heavy on second-hand car dealers and other commercial transport operators who park their vehicles on government land, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to start a special drive to clear the roads. MCD commissioner KS Mehra has directed all zones to impound such vehicles and charge heavy penalty from their owners. The penalty amount on each car is anywhere between Rs 4000 and Rs 9000 per day. Sources say officials in all zones have been asked to start the process of procuring their own cranes.

Areas like Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, Karol Bagh, CR Park, GK-1 etc are infested with second-hand car dealers who often park the vehicles they are selling on public land. "It is mess. Whenever we carry out raids, they remove their vehicles. But within days the cars are back. They are parked all over from roads to pavements," said an MCD official. In a recent circular, MCD sources say, Mehra has asked deputy commissioners of all the zones to start a drive against illegally-parked cars.

Officials say that in the Delhi Municipal Council Act, there is a provision to impound such vehicles and impose a heavy penalty. The penalty is charged on the basis of the weight of the vehicle, crane charges etc. "In the past, there was a court order which upheld MCD's decision to charge a penalty of Rs 5000 per day per vehicle from dealers who illegally parked their cars. Apart from that there are other charges as we keep the vehicle in our area and hire cranes to lift it," said an MCD official.

The Central zone has already started taking action against illegally parked vehicles. In a raid last week, officials there impounded 20 cars from both sides of Defence Colony flyover and collected close to Rs 60,000 in fines. "We have to remove all kinds of encroachment. It is mostly second-hand car dealers who park their cars on public places. But we also impounded heavy generator sets from New Friends colony; tempos, water tankers from Tuklaqabad and cars from Lajpat Nagar and Defence colony. The penalty can be anywhere between Rs 4000 and Rs 10,000 per day, and in some cases even more. The amount will keep adding with each passing day," said an MCD official. Similar action has also been carried out in City and Paharganj zones.

"Despite several attempts, we were not able to keep public spaces encroachment free. But now, all zones are making concentrated effort to implement commissioner's order," said an official.

After reining in second-hand car dealers, MCD is mulling a similar action against unauthorized parking lots. Recently, the MCD decided to charge 10 times of the parking fee from contractor for each car that was parked illegally. "Currently, we charge 10 times the parking fee from the contractor. But we are thinking that on contractors too we should impose fines similar to the ones slapped on second-hand car dealers."

Original news source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Action-against-illegal-car-parking/articleshow/7400411.cms