Encourage car pool to ease traffic, UT tells schools

Aarti Kapur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 30

From the next academic session, the Chandigarh Administration has asked city schools to encourage car pool for students and faculty members.

Concerned over the traffic chaos witnessed during the opening and closing hours of the schools, UT Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Shayin convened a meeting of private school principals to adopt the car pool concept.

Citing the successful model of car pool being adopted by St John’s High School, Sector 26, the DC asked other schools to adopt the concept from the new academic session. The UT traffic police will also be roped in to make the concept popular among schools and parents.

“Though the idea had been given to the schools last year also, it did not find favour with them. Now, a special meeting was called to stress the need for adopting the concept,” said the DC, adding that it would not only end the chaos outside the schools but would reduce traffic on city roads during peak hours.

The problem is more prominent outside popular private schools where private transport is used to pick and drop students. Citing examples, officials said there was less space outside KB DAV School in Sector 7, Carmel Convent School in Sector 9 and DAV School in Sector 15 to park vehicles. They said parents arrived in their private vehicles to drop and pick up their children, leading to traffic jams. A similar problem was witnessed outside schools in Sector 26.

“It is a welcome step. I feel this will help decongest roads outside the schools. It is a voluntarily step and parents should come forward and support it,” said DSP Traffic (South) Navdeep Singh Brar.

During the ongoing traffic week celebrations, the police should press the school authorities to implement the car pool concept.

Kavita Das, principal of St John’s High School, said the school had been using the car pool concept for the past 10 years for which teachers and students were getting incentives. She said this year, the school was planning to earmark special parking space for those using the car pool concept. She said students and faculty members using car pool would get more house points and appreciation certificates to promote the concept.

Vivek High School principal PK Singh said a number of parents had adopted the system voluntarily. If it was made mandatory, it would not only streamline the traffic chaos but save fuel also. She said the schools should encourage parents to adopt it.