Chennai’s parking policy overhauled
Are you one of those desperately seeking parking spots in Chennai? Then look out for these five insights from the policy introduced by the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA).
Why:
The ultimate, though distant, aim of the policy is to streamline parking and reduce driving. With 9.2 million vehicles crowding Chennai’s streets, the government hopes to encourage people to use public transport, ride-sharing, cycling, or walking. This shift is aimed at decongesting roads and enhancing safety and mobility, according to the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) experts, who offered technical knowledge support for the policy.
When:
The policy was approved by the Tamil Nadu government in January 2025 and announced in March. It will soon be implemented in phases. The parking spots will be available through a local parking app and website.
What:
A Parking Management Unit (PMU) will check and collect your fee through a centralised, digitalised special purpose vehicle or division. PMU will integrate public off-street parking and surrounding on-street parking (up to 500 metres). Land will be leased at nominal rates for off-street parking.
Residential:
- A prepaid model will be devised based on local assessments and allocations.
- Apply for a ‘residential parking permit’ zone on off-street parking—it’s cheaper than on-street parking.
- A ‘proof of parking’ confirms at least one off-street spot for long-term vehicle registration.
Non-residential:
- Workplaces with over 100 employees must draft a travel demand management plan, which will include shuttle services to metro stations, suburban trains, and bus stops based on staff locations and commuting habits.
- Freight parking on-street will shift entirely to designated off-street spots.
- Commercial spaces are required to have multi-level parking facilities and include EV charging points.
- Schools must stagger class schedules to ease traffic flow and designate areas for pick-ups, drop-offs, and bus parking.
How much:
- Parking spaces may range from free to paid.
- Prices for on-street parking will be set according to demand: high-demand, medium-demand, and low-demand zones.
- Fees are calculated based on vehicle size, duration, demand, timing, and location, ensuring 15% of on-street parking is always vacant.
- Revenues will feed into the urban transport fund to improve local infrastructure, such as footpaths and cycling tracks.
Where:
The initiative covers the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), spanning 5,904 sq. km., including Chennai, Tambaram, Avadi, Kancheepuram, along with 12 municipalities, 13 town panchayats, 22 panchayat unions, and a special-grade town panchayat.
Hyderabad’s greens see red over Kancha Gachibowli
Five things to know about the Kancha Gachibowli row with the University of Hyderabad (UOH):
- If you’re a proud Hyderabadi with a deep affection for Kancha Gachibowli — a sprawling 400-acre ecological treasure in the city — you have reason to celebrate. On April 16, the Supreme Court delivered a ruling, directing the Telangana Wildlife Warden to prioritise environmental protection. The court firmly stated that “high-rises cannot coexist with deer,” emphasising the need to preserve the area’s natural habitat. Kancha Gachibowli is among the few ‘lung spaces’ and ecological hotspots left in the bustling city.
- Tensions flared when the Congress-led government in Telangana proposed auctioning the green belt for IT and infrastructure projects. On March 30, University of Hyderabad (UoH) students, supported by opposition parties, confronted the government with a firm demand: “Prove that Kancha Gachibowli lacks ecological richness to justify your auction.” The pressing question remains — how does the state intend to safeguard the area’s biodiversity?
- The battle shifted to the Telangana High Court, as the NGO Vata Foundation filed a couple of Public Interest Litigations (PIL) and secondly by a retired Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) scientist, asking that the move be called illegal, arbitrary and a violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
- It moved on to the Supreme Court that set up the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to examine the issue. Reports probing before-and-after photographs and biodiversity zones through a 2009 WWF UoH study conclude that Kanchi Gachbowli “appears to have all the characteristics of a forest”.
- Another vegetation density survey by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) on CEC’s request will be completed in two more weeks. The state has dug in its heels, firm that its all about ‘Kancha’, referring to ‘unproductive’ revenue, not forest land, according to earlier records. But the UoH has rejected the state’s defence of any survey in July 2024 by the revenue authorities to demarcate the 400 acres.
(Compiled by Revathi Siva Kumar)