Chandigarh
24 November 2017
DIVYA AZAD
Concerned over the recent draft parking policy issued by UT administration, proposing stringent measures to discourage residents from buying more cars, former Union Minister and ex-MP Pawan Kumar Bansal has come down heavily on the authorities and called the policy totally ‘unfair’ and skewed.
In a press statement, Bansal criticised the recently released draft policy, which says that residents who purchase a car worth Rs 10 lakh and above, will have to shell out half the price of the car as road tax. In the draft policy, the administration has proposed to charge road tax up to half the price of the second car purchased by any household. “How can the authorities put a cap on sale of vehicles like this? The concept is copied from Singapore and has already failed there. The decision will have an extremely negative impact on the already plummeting economy,” he said.
“It seems the UT administration has got heavily influenced by central government’s habit of giving ‘shock-treatments’ and thus taken a decision without keeping consequences of such a callously drafted policy in mind. It would have been better if all the stakeholders had been taken into confidence or discussed the matter at the Administrator’s Advisory Committee and the changes adopted in a phased manner. Further, the proposed policy would force the city residents for purchasing cars from Panchkula and Mohali to avoid paying heavy registration charges,” he said.
Former Chandigarh MP further said, “While the Modi Government promotes the ‘Make-In-India’ policy, Chandigarh administration’s parking policy will dampen car manufacturing in the country.
“I am yet to come to terms with the fact that the Metro Project, which was designed to address the ever-rising demand for parking and traffic congestion has been abandoned, and this skewed policy is being proposed. Instead of finding other ‘smart’ alternatives to curb the parking problem and its efficient management,the administration has made a ‘smart, innovative’ move by putting pressure on the citizens only. What a smart way of shrugging off its responsibility” he said. “Residents will not let the administration force the policy upon them. Already there’s no clarity yet on property tax, this policy would add more to the furore”, he added.
