HindustanTimes 29.09.2009
Civic body proposes to charge more for renting public parks
Everyone dreams of a farmhouse wedding but most settle for the neighbourhood park — it costs much cheaper.
But soon these public parks may also get out of people’s reach because the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) may increase the rates it charges for the use of these parks.
Booking rates for certain parks in the city, which residents can hire to organise parties and wedding functions, would be increased from Rs 5,000 per day to Rs 30,00 per day. The civic agency is also planning to increase the booking rate of Punjabi Bagh stadium to Rs 30,000 for each part of the stadium.
“There is a lot of demand for the Punjabi Bagh stadium and the charged are quite low currently. The MCD hardly gets any amount from it. The open space is decorated by installing large tents by the party holding the function. Most of these weddings have a huge budget and increasing the rates will not affect them,” said a senior MCD official.
“We have more than 675 parks where we still charge Rs 1,000 and above.”
According to the civic agency, the tent mafia is making huge profits from the bookings of all these parks.
“The residents are charged exorbitant amount by the tent mafia but we (civic body) are not making any profit. These tent mafias don't remove tents after the function is over and use it for other functions. But they don't pay us,” said MCD commissioner KS Mehra.
“There is a proposal to charge them Rs 30,000 as well if they fail to remove the tent after the function is over.”
In case of Punjabi Bagh stadium, the penalty for not removing the tent on time has been proposed to Rs 50,000.
A proposal in this regard was tabled in the standing committee meeting of the MCD held recently. However, a number of municipal councillors raised certain objections to the plan. A committee has now been constituted to take a final decision on the issue.
“The committee will submit its findings within a month’s time,” said standing committee chairman Ram Kishan Singhal.
The civic agency plans to stop the use of its 675 parks for weddings and functions by 2015. To compensate for the loss of open space, it has proposed to construct 147 community halls by that time.
