JOIN USFree parking for mall rats?
Things moved only when some South Delhi Muncipal Corporation officials and councilors themselves had to pay `exorbitant’ amounts for parking their cars at shopping malls.
They realised that the parking rates at malls were burning a hole in the pocket of shoppers.
The South Corporation has now initiated a process to allow motorists park free of cost at malls. Else, it wants malls to pay a cut to the corporation in the form of licence fee.
The free parking proposal may strike a chord with the middle class, but there doubts about the outcome: the malls are against breaking the status quo.
The issue was raised in the South Corporation’s standing committee meeting earlier this month, when some officials and councillors shared their experience.
“I ended up paying around Rs 200 for using the parking facility for a couple of hours. Is it fair to make the general public pay so much for parking their vehicles for a few hours?” says a councillor.
Starting Monday, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation will start issuing notices to shopping malls, asking them to stop collecting parking fee. The civic agency claims that mall authorities are not entitled to collect parking fees. They either need to take a licence from the municipal corporation or let motorists use their facilities for free.
“The parking space is a common area accessible to the general public or non-commercial space according to the plans sanctioned by the municipal corporation. If shopping malls charge consumers for using their parking facilities, it becomes a commercial activity. Hence malls are liable to pay to the civic agency for running such facilities,” says South Corporation standing committee chairperson Radhey Shyam Sharma.
“We are in the process of issuing notices to malls as well as hospitals asking them to either take a licence for running parking facilities or let people park their vehicles for free,” Sharma adds.
Some officials, however, are not sure whether malls can be forced to provide free parking facilties. “The malls pay property taxes as well as commercial tax so it will be somewhat difficult to force them to have free parking facilities,” says a senior official with the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The North and East Corporations, however, are not going to follow suit any time soon.
Motorists will have a lot to cheer about if the proposal is implemented. “It will be a huge relief for us if parking becomes free at malls as we end up paying over Rs 100 every time we visit a mall,” says Rohit Bhatia, a resident of New Ashok Nagar.
But most mall authorities claim they are charging a nominal fee.
“We at Select Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (Select CityWalk) are fully compliant with applicable laws in charging parking fee. It is in accordance with the original lease deed of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA),” says Yogeshwar Sharma, executive director, Select Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. The Select CityWalk authorities charge Rs 30 for the first three hours and Rs 20 for each subsequent hour.
But the civic agency says that it is within its right to make all the 35 or more malls under its jurisdiction to apply for licence for running parking facilties.
“As per the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, anybody indulging in commercial activity has to seek licence for carrying out business,” says a councillor from Janakpuri West, Ashish Sood, one of the key members who moved this proposal. “All malls under the limits of the South Corporation are liable to seek licence as per the Act.”
Leader of Opposition in South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Farhad Suri, echoes similar concerns. “Malls should also be asked to pay for advertisements put up in their basements. Even advocates and doctors have to pay to the civic agency concerned for setting up information boards outside their businesses,” Suri adds.
Recovering costs
A few other mall owners say they are not able to recover the costs incurred in operating parking facilities. “The general perception is that shopping mall authorities have exorbitant parking rates. But the reality is that we are still not able to recover the cost incurred in creating, operating and managing such facilities,” says a spokesperson of a mall, requesting anonymity.
Some malls say they spend a lot on deploying parking marshals and marking of bays for safety and convenience of users.
“The cost of adequate lighting, security, parking equipment, directional signages, fresh air fans, fire detection and suppression systems are too much and cannot be recovered,” says a senior mall employee.
“But many malls give discount for parking vehicles to regulars. Some even provide free parking facility during certain events,” he adds.
Shopping mall authorities say providing free washrooms is the most challenging task.
“Mall owners take flak for high parking rates but people fail to realise how much they spend on running free washroom facilities. The general public seems to ignore the gallons of water required every day to provide clean washrooms,” he says.
Traffic experts say that providing free parking facility at malls may lead to snarls as there will be nobody to monitor the vehicles.
“The parking mafia has been plaguing the civic agency’s sources of generating revenue. Even the municipal corporations agree that parking is a big issue and if parking facilities are rendered free, it will increase the risk of parking mafia to occupy such sites and fleece people,” says an official with a mall.
Under its jurisdiction, the South Corporation has a total of 78 parking lots with a capacity to accommodate 1,200 vehicles at a given time. But there are doubts on whether it can take on the task of running parking lots at malls as well.
And with the legal complications and resistance by malls, the free parking at malls seems like a distant dream.