Congestion Charge to ease traffic in Capital

NEW DELHI: The government came up with new strategy to deal with the growing parking problem and congestion in the city. On March 12, Lieutenant governor Anil Baijal said while the parking policy can be “notified any time”, options are being explored to designate certain roads for one-way traffic movement and also to levy a charge from vehicle owners for entering some of the congested stretches.

On December 1, traffic police,PWD, Municipal bodies and Lt Governor held a meeting to explore roads which can be made one-way and some other for Congestion charges.

Baijal said that certain roads get clogged in a certain period and government is exploring to have an ERP (electronic road pricing), ” you have a tag and when you enter these roads, you automatically get charged from the amount you paid for the ERP.”

To implement congestion charges and ease traffic, Baijal along with three municipal Corporation and Union Urban Affairs Ministry short-listed 21 stretches. Theses 21 stretches are corridor between Aurobindo Chowk and Andheria More, Nehru Place flyover to Modi Mills flyover, areas around Hauz Khas metro station on the Outer Ring Road, the ITO intersection, and parts of Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, Mathura Road and Pusa Road.

Baijal added, “We already have a parking policy for the city. It is almost ready and I am hopeful that it will soon be implemented. But decisions such as this need community involvement as well. They have to be worked out by local bodies of citizens, which areas need decongesting.”