Government considering 5% quota for EV parking in existing buildings

NEW DELHI: Transport minister Kailash Gahlot chaired the first meeting of the apex monitoring committee set up under the ‘Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Places Rules, 2019’, with special focus on reserving 5% space in all new construction for electric vehicles (EV). The government is considering provision for reservation of EV parking spaces in the existing buildings too.

Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Places Rules, which was notified in September 2019, makes the civic bodies responsible for arranging required parking space in areas under their jurisdiction, including preparing and implementing area parking plans, which require approval of the apex monitoring committee.

At the meeting on Friday, area parking plans prepared based on guidelines of the transport department and in consultation with RWAs, market associations etc., were discussed.

Gahlot directed South Delhi Municipal Corporation to take lead on compiling all the plans after assessment of parking capacity, length of stretch and type of vehicle, and expedite procuring NOCs from the enforcement agencies and Delhi Police.

“Area parking plans are not just about parking vehicles, but improving the quality of life and making life easier for the public. Vendors, non-motorised transport, parks and recreational spaces find a crucial place in these plans,” Gahlot said.

“I also urge the citizens to park responsibly and try to switch to EVs. Most importantly use more public transport, which will address a lot of these issues from the grassroots level,” he said in a statement. The possibilities of using geospatial data to map EV user coordinates and plot influence area with owner coordinates for developing private charging clusters was also discussed at the meeting.