BENGALURU: With ministers, MLAs, former mayors and corporators raising concern over annual parking fees against house owners parking their vehicles outside their homes under the proposed Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Parking Rules 2026 and possible resentment from the public, sources in the Urban Development Department (UDD) hinted that the decision is likely to be reviewed and withdrawn soon.
The proposed draft policy states that owners have to pay Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 based on their site measurement. A UDD official said the clause that makes provision to collect parking fees from residents is under scrutiny by senior officers, following numerous objections by citizens. It is likely that the specific clause will be rolled back in the final rules.
BTM Layout MLA and Minister Ramalinga Reddy was the first to ask the government to relook into the policy. “I had objected as it will cause inconvenience to the public,” he told TNIE.
Former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) mayor Sampath Raj too said the government will not take any step that will discomfort Bengalureans. “In future, sites measuring 30x40 sqft and 40x60 sqft and above will all have to show the parking area in their construction plan,” he added.
Senior BJP leader and four-time MLA Satish Reddy from Bommanahalli said there is anger among the public over potholes, garbage and other infrastructure issues. The move to charge a hefty sum as parking fees will cause more anger against the government.
Bengaluru Navanirmana Party founder Srikanth Narasimhan said they will welcome withdrawal of parking charges on site owners. “The bigger question is why citizens should be penalised for a problem that successive governments and civic authorities have allowed to grow over the years.
Building violations have been allowed to continue, building norms have not been properly enforced, and urban planning has failed to keep pace with the city’s growth. The government cannot first allow these problems to happen and then make citizens pay the price for its failures,” he said.
Before imposing parking charges on residents, the government must first penalise MLAs and officials responsible for allowing building violations and unplanned development, he added.
Ashok Mruthyunjaya, National Council member, Aam Aadmi Party, said the parking fee exposes sheer administrative bankruptcy and policy paralysis. “First, they float an unscientific, exorbitant Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 annual levy to squeeze honest taxpayers who already pay heavy road taxes.
Then, at the slightest pushback from their own MLAs eyeing local polls, they stage a hasty retreat. While citizens struggle with choked roads and pedestrian-unfriendly neighbourhoods, the administration offers only knee-jerk extortion followed by spineless retreats driven by internal factionalism,” he said.
Bengaluru deserves structured urban governance, robust public transport, and designated parking infrastructure, not a clueless regime that uses public policy as an experimental sandbox to test how much it can loot before getting caught, he added.
Draft Policy
Owners to pay Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 based on site measurement.
Why the U-turn
Public already miffed at authority over potholes, garbage menace and other infrastructure issues. New policy will cause more anger against the government. People want public representatives and civic officials to be penalised first for allowing building violations