Parking fee rate in Delhi was hiked four-fold a week ago due to runaway air pollution (File)
The four-fold
parking fee hike in public areas in south Delhi will be rolled back to the old rate today, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation or SDMC has said. The south Delhi civic agency on November 9 increased the parking fee to discourage people from using their vehicles and force them to take public transport, after Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal ordered the rate hike as one of the solutions to reducing the
toxic smog that has engulfed Delhi.
The North Corporation and the East Corporation -- as the other two civic agencies in Delhi are known -- will however keep the new rate. SDMC is the richest of the three civic agencies in the national capital. Several income-generating markets such as Central Market and Sarojini Nagar are in south Delhi.
"This (parking fee) hike was for a week-long period only as mentioned in the previous SDMC order. So, from November 16 (today), the old rates will apply," a senior SDMC official, who asked not to be named, told news agency Press Trust of India on Wednesday.
The pollution-fighting parking fee for cars at Rs 80 an hour and Rs 400 for 24 hours have pinched the pocket of motorists, many of who tweeted that the rate was too high.
Delhi has been engulfed by toxic smog for the last few weeks
SDMC officials say motorists got into argument with parking staff at several south Delhi areas when they were told to pay up. At some busy markets as Green Park and Yusuf Sarai in south Delhi, people were seen parking their vehicles outside designated space to avoid paying the revised fee.
The Lieutenant Governor had told the municipal agencies and the Delhi Metro to enforce the anti-pollution measures taken by the watchdog Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority, one of which was hiking parking fee.
Delhi has been engulfed by toxic smog for the last few weeks that
developed due to a host of factors such as automobile and industrial emissions, crop residue burning in neighbouring Haryana and Punjab, and season change.
The level of the pollutant particulate matter PM2.5 and PM10 had peaked and crossed safe levels. Thirty times smaller than the width of a human hair, the size of the PM2.5 pollutant makes it dangerous for the human body. Another pollutant, PM10, may get trapped in the throat, but PM2.5 is fine enough to pass these natural barriers and enter the lungs and the bloodstream, doctors say.
(With inputs from PTI)