Social activists give suggestions to officials

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 16

In the absence of any check by the authorities concerned, traffic congestion in and around the Katra Jaimal Singh and Telephone Exchange areas has become a routine affair. Roads can be seen blocked with parking of two-wheelers and other vehicles. The Katra Jaimal Singh area is a major market of hosiery and garments and people from across the state and Jammu and Kashmir visit the place to buy such items.

There is no appropriate place for parking in the area. However, some social activists have been suggesting that available parking lots can be used to check the issue. A few social activists have written to officials of the district administration and the Municipal Corporation to provide a solution to the problem.

An RTI activist, Varun Khanna, along with another social activist Yadu Mehra, conducted a survey in the area and suggested some solutions to the MC officials. They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner and MC Commissioner in this regard.

They suggested that the administration could use the space at the Kesri Bagh car parking and the two-wheeler lot for parking vehicles.

“Though new parking lots are required, in the area, we had suggested to adopt some models being used in other parts of the country and abroad to optimise the use of the available space. The administration can construct an underground parking in the Telephone Exchange area. Optimum utilisation of the space can even be achieved in Saragarhi and other parking areas of the city by making minimum changes in the existing infrastructure with the ‘Puzzle-cum-stack parking mechanism’. Such mechanism will not involve any change to the existing infrastructure. It is technology-based, hence, the cost of installing the same will also be low as compared to the construction of new parking lots,” said Varun Khanna.

The activists also demanded to rationalise parking charges to motivate residents to park their vehicles at designated parking lots.