Parking Space Certificate May Become Mandatory For Vehicle Registration

Another step towards decongesting roads

According to a PTI report, the government is contemplating a plan wherein a car buyer will have to produce a valid parking space certificate in order to get his/her car legally registered. Venkaiah Naidu, union urban development minister, reiterated that he is ‘very keen' to put this proposal in place and that discussions are on with the surface transport ministry.

Naidu also said that, in future, permission would not be given for any construction unless it has provision for toilets. In his words, "In future, it would be mandated that no permission would be given to any construction without a toilet. No car or vehicle should be registered without adequate parking space availability certificate."

Naidu added that discussions are on with Nitin Gadkari, who is the minister for road transport and highways. Earlier, Naidu also launched the ‘Google Toilet Locator' to help residents of Delhi-NCR and two cities of Madhya Pradesh – Bhopal and Indore – search for toilets in the vicinity. The service offers locations of 6,200 public toilets, which include the ones in shopping malls, hospitals, bus/train stations, petrol pumps and metro stations.

The objective of enabling our towns and cities to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status is a welcome one. However, as far as producing a parking space certificate is concerned, the implementation is bound to face some resistance from people all over the country, though it will have the much-need long-term advantage of decongesting our cities. However defining the prerequisites for a space to be worthy of a parking spot will be extremely tricky for the government.

Most cities and towns in the country aren't very well planned. Carving out a suitable and safe parking space might be feasible for some, but not for everyone. The government needs to have a detailed plan for the idea to become more acceptable across the nation.