Panacea for parking problem

Capt Narinder Singh

I happen to be one of the few old living inhabitants of Chandigarh since 1957 and vividly remember its growth.

In those days, one could easily count the vehicles and their owners on fingertips. But today, it excels the country when considered on the basis of population. There is chaos on the busy roads. During the peak hours, there is a traffic jam at the roundabouts and crossings. In violation of traffic rules, mobile phones are used while driving. Three-wheelers and two-wheelers dominate the roads and create noise, causing pollution on the roads and crossings.

Motorists, observing that no traffic police personnel are around, jump lights and flout rules. Smart Alecs also take advantage of slip roads near the red light and quickly negotiate through another slip road, avoiding lights, creating a chance of accidents. A good example of this is the middle road crossing like in Sector 37-Sector 36. Drivers jump lights sometimes observing that traffic is less, creating chance of an accident. Traffic rule violations often cause bodily injury to the policemen when drivers are asked to stop for checking.

Reason: Till the 80s, the City Beautiful was termed as a city of ‘bushes and grey beard’, or the City of Babus. Most bureaucrats and employees, after their retirement, preferred to settle here. 

Things have taken a different turn now. In India, particularly in the northern region, the city is now treated as a land of opportunities, with vast educational, health and job avenues. The city has a beautiful environment and less pollution with wide roads and a comparatively better law and order situation. 

All this attracts thousands to make their career and settle here. There has been a mushrooming of academies and PGs in the city which is landlocked from all sides. There is no scope of expansion and the existing space has proved to be inadequate in bearing the burden of rising population causing  problems.

The government is determined to regulate traffic and create better parking facilities. This is laudable. In fact, traffic congestion and parking hazards are more where marla houses and flats of a size less than one kanal in area exist. By and large, bigger area houses hardly rent their building. The front parking of bigger houses can easily accommodate three to four vehicles, including those within the premises.

The problem arises in small houses or call it pigeon-holes with more than two storeys. A five-marla house can just accommodate one vehicle in the front and may now create space for one more vehicle inside, where in fact the occupants residing on different floors may possess more than four vehicles. So goes with the flats not catering to parking space. It requires some study.

Due to the intensive parking area, problems that we often read about arise. It leads to scuffle, fights or heated arguments and at times even murder like it happened in Mohali a few years ago when an advocate was shot dead.

Invariably, one notices ruckus on the roads. In such places, visitors find it an ordeal to park their vehicle even for a short duration. In some areas, residents of small marla houses have forcibly taken over the neighbouring park and created own space, robbing others of open space and green spaces. This tendency of fiedom has to be curtailed.

Besides the valuable points enshrined in the above scheme, it is pertinent that considering the frontage of any home and fresh provisioning, a permit should be issued about the permissible number of vehicles any house is entitled to at a time. Thus, an embargo has to be fixed on the number of vehicles which the owner or its tenants are entitled to park inside our outside their houses.

It is learnt that some car owners, to earn more premium, get their vehicles registered by any method in Chandigarh to earn profit while selling and are less prone to challans being issued in the tricity. Section 47 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, entails that when a vehicle moves to another state or area, it should be registered there within the stipulated period and shall be subject to other regulations issued by the government from time to time. Presently, thousands of vehicle owners, bearing outstation registered numbers, stay in Chandigarh and Mohali, without adhering to the provisions of the Act.

Apparently, when such people commit any crime, they are not easily traceable. If these conditions are incorporated, it would certainly regulate the movement of vehicles, earn revenue due to registration in the city and would get caught easily after committing an offence.

(The writer is former secretary, Home & Justice, Punjab)