Delhi Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu has directed the MCD, NDMC and Delhi Traffic Police to intensify joint action against illegal parking, improve the use of existing facilities and address parking-related mobility bottlenecks across the capital.
The direction was issued at a high-level meeting on Thursday, where civic and transport agencies were asked to conduct coordinated enforcement drives at parking sites and prevent unauthorised parking. Resident Welfare Associations and market associations will also be involved in enforcement around multi-level parking facilities, according to the report by Millennium Post.
The Traffic Police informed the meeting that 13,34,700 challans and 5,54,073 notices had been issued for unauthorised parking up to October 5 this year. During the same period, 1,24,906 vehicles were towed using 76 cranes. The figures indicate the scale of enforcement already being undertaken, while the new direction seeks to make action more coordinated across agencies and locations.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has planned a dedicated enforcement drive from October 15 to December 15. The campaign will cover identified parking hotspots and market corridors, where roadside parking can obstruct traffic movement, reduce carriageway space and create conflicts between vehicles, pedestrians and commercial activity.
Delhi currently operates 463 parking sites with a combined capacity of 94,831 equivalent car spaces. Of these, 433 are surface parking sites and 30 are multi-level or stack parking facilities. The available capacity includes different facility types and is intended to serve demand that otherwise spills over onto streets and public spaces.
The Lieutenant Governor has also sought uniform parking charges across facilities, expanded Park and Ride arrangements, slot tracking and the creation of a unified parking authority. These proposals point to a shift from treating illegal parking only as an enforcement issue towards managing parking as a city-wide system involving pricing, information, capacity and institutional coordination.
At present, parking-related responsibilities are distributed among several agencies, including municipal bodies and the Traffic Police. The involvement of RWAs and market associations under the proposed enforcement approach is intended to extend monitoring and compliance efforts around busy commercial areas and multi-level parking sites.
The push for slot tracking could help agencies and motorists identify available spaces, while uniform charges could reduce differences between facilities operated in different parts of the city. However, the report does not specify the proposed rates, the locations for expanded Park and Ride facilities, or the institutional structure and timeline for a unified parking authority.
The immediate enforcement schedule begins on October 15 and will continue through December 15. The agencies are expected to focus on the identified hotspots and market corridors while working to improve utilisation of Delhi’s existing parking infrastructure.
