In the metropolitan towns of India, open space is at a premium. The government has a policy to keep some open spaces in the city as ‘lungs’ to enable the city to
‘breathe.’ But influential people keep nibbling or encroaching upon such government space. The more central the place is, the more premium it will command. Policies and rules are bent or twisted or misinterpreted to benefit some people or some organisations. Visit any institutional area in Delhi and you will find that all kinds of weird organisations have been given land to build palaces. The purpose for which the land was originally given is forgotten and is not even in the scheme of things of the organisers.

I had a relative who was allotted land in a so-called research institute in the Qutab Institutional Area. When I inquired as to what kind of research was being done in the institute, I was told by the receptionist that it is a full fledged hospital and doctors come and treat patients. It was a four star hospital. A religious organisation was given land for devotional purposes, which is not even mentioned, as the head of the organisation is busy appearing in court defending himself against cases involving cheating and fraud. The most important reason for a premium on cheating is that punishment for violation of laws takes ages to catch up with the crooks, because of procedural delays. Even after punishment is awarded, layer after layer of appeals make sure that the crooks do not stay in jail.

Every body is out to ravish government or common property for the simple reason that its custodians or watchmen can be compromised to turn a Nelson’s eye. You can visit any market area any where in Delhi and you would find that most shopkeepers have encroached on the pavements and keep their goods there. Six-lane roads have been encroached by the shopping complex and parking is three abreast. In fact, in Delhi, there is a premium for parking space. You go to any market, whether it is Lajpat Nagar Central Market or Lajpat Rai Market, there is total traffic chaos and jungle raj prevails on the roads.

It is primarily because people do not like to obey traffic laws and have the least consideration for fellow road users. Cars are parked haphazardly and, sometimes, in such a way, that you cannot take out your own properly parked car. Some sanity prevails only when a traffic constable is around or a towing crane is in sight. It is impossible to put one constable per parked car, as the strength of the police for traffic is limited. Moreover, it is considered a problem caused by the rich and super rich, as the traffic bedlam is generally caused by large cars.

Some rich families have more cars than all the members of their families. In the absence of adequate and fixed parking, such anarchy is natural. Most shop keepers appropriate the little bit of parking space available in front of their shops, leaving precious little for the customers, for whom they are supposedly existing. All kinds of demands are made for parking space, including conversion of all open space or ‘lung space’ of Delhi into parking lots. Recently, something bizarre happened. The New Delhi Municipal Committee has put up boards everywhere asking people to ‘green’ Delhi. Here in the heart of VIP areas, the New Delhi Municipal Committee converted an open, but badly maintained park, into a parking space in the posh Khan Market. May be, they are to be forgiven for their amnesia, as somebody may have thought that park or parking means the same thing. Not that it has solved the problem of parking of vehicles in Khan Market, as the same anarchy continues.

An underground parking like the one in Lok Nayak Bhavan, a road across Khan Market, would have been the ideal solution. The only beneficiaries are self-appointed, whistle-blowing attendants who demand a price to let you park your vehicle. How is it that nobody has noticed or, if they have, not taken action for violation of the Master Plan, that is, presuming that there is a Master Plan for the capital of India. If the precedent of converting a park into parking place is followed, then in the near future you cannot rule out the demand for converting the ‘lung space’ of New Delhi, that is Lodi Garden, into a parking place for visitors to Khan Market or nearby offices. Are we to allow this lopsided and lackadaisical approach to continue?