NEW DELHI: You may not be allowed to register your new car or any other vehicle unless you produce proof that you have adequate parking space for it, according to a rule that the Centre is looking at introducing in future.“I am very keen on this. I am talking to the surface transport minister and also sensitising the states. We would be moving in that direction,“ Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday.If such a proposal comes from the urban development ministry, it would be considered, road transport ministry officials said. “Space crunch for parking and congestion in cities are big concerns. We're serious about decongestion of roads,“ an official said.Urban transport experts have welcomed the intention, but it will be tough implementing such a proposal. First, registration of vehicles is done by state transport departments, but municipal bodies deal with parking issues. Moreover, barring people to buy new vehicles should ideally be preceded with making efficient public transport available.“The proposed measures to curb purchase of cars in the city are not unusual -many large metropolitan cities across the world have imposed such restrictions on car ownership with a fair amount of success. Such measures coupled with the increase in public transport infrastructure shall help free public space as well as reduce pollution . If these measures are implemented in a planned way and logically, will go a long way towards decontesting the city and are welcome steps towards the goal of making Delhi a true metropolis,“ said architect and urban planner Sudhir Vohra.Experts also want the government to take other steps such as hiking parking charges, levying charges for using private vehicles in congested areas and increasing interest rate for car loans to discourage people from buying vehicles.In fact, several reports on decongesting cities and towns have suggested similar measure of linking availability of parking space to registration of private vehicles.Illegal and on-road parking have also been one of the major reasons of choking roads in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It's no different even in smaller cities.In 2015, the Himachal Pradesh high court had directed the state government that a new vehicle intended to run within the Shimla municipal corporation limits would be registered only if the purchaser produced a certificate stating that he owned parking space.