Cables and More...

These are a few pictures I took yesterday in the Paharganj area in Delhi. I am fascinated by how terribly the electric / phone /cable TV companies lay their wires!! (And yet how few accidents and fires occur). Click below for more pictures.

More Pictures at Paharganj:




p.s. Major props to Airtel for not only laying down their cables very well, but also insisting to the customer that they do so even if he/she demands otherwise.

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Solution to Parking problem in Delhi

Delhi is becoming super congested, and if there is any lesson that the government, the MCD and the general public should learn from this past year's Supreme Court sealings, it is that they need to sort out parking in the city fast before we find ourselves in an irreparable situation.

My idea is that they should just have a simple rule for residential as well as commercial premises - when you construct a building you have to provide for as much parking as you would require. Keep the damn streets free for pedestrians.

So if you open a multiplex and expect a seating of 1000, then you should not be allowed to operate until you construct a (multi-level) parking that can fit approximately 350 cars (i.e. about 1000 ÷ 3). (There can be a cap of Rs. 100 for 2 hrs parking, and within that businesses can decide what they want to charge).

And for residential purposes, if you build a house with 6 flats, you should have a capacity to park 6 x 2 = 12 cars. Visitors can park outside up to 4 hours - anything more requiring a notification to your RWA (for example if one has overnight visitors).

This is IMHO essential for sustained economic growth of the city.

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The Parking Mafia

Only in Delhi can we have a parking mafia!! :D The problem however is quite serious - with parking attendants charging Rs. 10 while they should be charging Rs. 5. Unfortunately, they have managed to create a public perception where the ordinary person actually believes that the official parking charge is Rs. 10.

A 2005 article reported that the MCD planned on prosecuting parking contrators who print fake tickets with a charge of Rs. 10 printed on them under s. 420 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 which provides for the offence of "Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property." (Yes, that's where the old 'chaar so bees' comes from!)

That's all well said and done, but like in the case of the recent traffic violations drive as per the High courts order increasing fines, it apparently fizzled out and the real crooks got nothing more than a slap on the wrists (if that!)

Anyway, I am yet to see a 'fake' parking ticket. The trick I have seen them do is that the ticket has printed on it something along the lines of 'Rs. 5 for 2 hr.s and Rs. 10 for every subsequent hour,' and the attendants (intentionally) rip off the ticket right after the 'Rs. 5' part. So like the vast majority of delhites, if you think that the charge is Rs. 10 and the ticket seems to be saying the same, you will end up paying double the amount you should.

I've been paying them Rs. 5 since I found out about this last year. Most attendants don't say anything because they know they don't have a stand. One or two odd ones will ask for Rs. 10 but as long as you are firm and confident, they give up very quickly. Only once did one guy give me back the money, asking me to keep it myself and not even bother giving him 5 rupees. I obliged him gladly.

A 2006 article on the other hand talks about how the MCD really intends to respond in true desi style - eliminating violations of law by simply making the violations lawful! If you regularize the irregular, then everything ends up being regular.... sweet. They did this with the unauthorized construction stuff that's been going on for the past 6 months or so. So now the official rate will become Rs. 10. (Apparently it was supposed to be enforced from Feb. 1, 2007 but I'm not sure if that's happened).

I personally think that they should not charge anything unless and until they start using at least a part of that fund to maintain and develop parking sites.

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