Buy cars as per necessity, not for status symbol

Community parking need of the hour

With the number of vehicles increasing with each passing day, parking has become a nightmare for vehicle owners. Due to the lack of parking space in the city, residents park their vehicles in front of their houses, creating problem for the public in general. To ease the traffic congestion, community parking and underground parking are the need of the hour. The Municipal Corporation must identify open spaces as per the requirement in each sector, which could be converted into community parking lots. It should be appreciated that in spite of some shortcomings, paid parking system helped in managing parking of vehicles to a greater extent in the markets. These paid parking lots can be of help only if these work on set rules and regulations. The MC should deploy adequate staff to manage lots.

Dr Shruti K Chawla, Chandigarh

Cover small distances on foot

Chandigarh is the only city where the number of vehicles exceeds the population. Apart from it, 6,000 new vehicles come on city roads every month, which adds to the parking woes. The Administration should take steps to mitigate this problem. The problem arises in the evening. Schools should be thrown open to public for parking of vehicles in the evening. The Administration should plan multi-storied parking in congested sectors. People should be urged to cover small distances on foot.

Harish Kapur, Traffic marshal, Chandigarh police

Lack of accessible parking

City is facing the problem of lack of accessible parking. Parking scenario is woefully falling short of the present requirements. People park their vehicles haphazardly, creating problem for commuters and leading to traffic congestion. Combined efforts by the authorities and public can help minimise the problem. Improving modes of public transport is the need of the hour.

Charu Malhotra, Mohali

Separate parking for mobikes, cars

Parking in markets is getting more and more chaotic as the Municipal Corporation has made no efforts to improve it. Market committees and RWAs have improved the situation in some places like Sector 9 and 22. Parking in Sectors 11, 15 and 10 has become a major concern. Due to the lack of parking space in the PGI, Sector 11-B is the worst affected. People have to park their vehicles in the residential areas and walk to the PGI. There should be separate parking for two-wheelers and four-wheelers in markets.Col PS Gill (retd) Issue challans to defaulters Vehicles are often parked on the roadside in the busy markets and on pavements. Traffic police should conduct frequent checks in the markets and even streets in the residential areas and issue on-the-spot challan to defaulters.

Balbir Singh Batra, Mohali

Park vehicles in authorised places

The Administration should construct parking places according to the need. People should park their vehicles in proper places. They should not park their vehicles on pavements, slip roads, playgrounds or on the roadsides. Traffic police should ask vehicles owners not to park their vehicles at unauthorised places. The Administration should frame strict rules and regulations against defaulters. All parking places should be neat and clean.

Sumesh Kumar Badhwar, Mohali

Revive Chandigarh Metro Rail project

We pay hefty road tax. So, it’s the duty of the government to provide good infrastructure on roads, including adequate parking facilities. But it is deplorable that the authorities in the tricity have failed to gauge the vehicular growth and provide adequate parking areas. Therefore, people have no option but to park their vehicles on the roadside, footpaths or any available open space. The authorities must create adequate multi-level parking, especially in commercial hubs and even in residential segments. Dedicated public transport system needs to be augmented. Chandigarh Metro Rail project must be revived as a long-term solution to traffic congestion.

SS Arora, Mohali

Limit number of vehicles in each family

Parking problem in the tricity will continue as long as we keep on adding vehicles to our fleet. Well-to-do families have at least two to three cars in each house, but they have no parking space. Where is the need to buy a car for every individual in the family? To solve the parking mess, we should limit the number of vehicles in each family. It should be a maximum of two. The number of vehicles in the fleet of VIPs should be pruned. The fleet of VIPs moving with several vehicles leads to traffic congestion. The UT must explore the feasibility of underground parking. People should not park vehicles haphazardly, blocking the way for others.

Madhu RD Singh, Ambala Cantt

People should cooperate with Admn

Drivers deliberately flout basic parking rules by parking vehicles haphazardly near schools, hospitals, places of worship, mini-markets and in residential areas. They even park vehicles in no-parking zones on main roads and footpaths near the markets or in front of houses. Paucity of public parking slots in the tricity and manifold increase in vehicles resulted into this situation. To solve it, vacant spaces adjoining the markets could be developed as parking places. Cheap and modern means of transportation such as Metro Rail or Monorail should also be explored. People should cooperate with the Administration for proper management of increasing traffic in the tricity.

Bhupinder S Sealopal, Mohali

Utilise open spaces as parking lots

Lack of planning and coordination between the Administration and both governments of Punjab and Haryana has failed to strengthen public transport in the tricity. People face hardships in parking their vehicles safely due to inadequate parking place. At times, they have to pay fine unnecessarily. The authorities should plan multi-level car parking and utilise open spaces as parking lots. The UT and both state government should have a clear vision to improve public transport system. Revival of Metro Rail can help check the parking problem. 

Col Balbir Singh Mathauda (Retd)

Adopt odd/even formula in tricity

Parking vehicles at wrong places is increasing alarmingly. Urgent steps must be taken to mitigate this problem. The Municipal Corporation should provide sufficient & easily accessible parking to motorists. It can be achieved only if the number of vehicles on roads is decreased. We can adopt odd/even formula for immediate relief as was done in Delhi. It will succeed in Chandigarh as the area involved is small as compared to Delhi.

Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Chandigarh

Traffic Dept should increase surveillance

Parking vehicles in no-parking zones has become a nuisance in the City Beautiful as well as the neighbouring cities. Though the UT Traffic Police are always on their toes, people must realise the nuisance caused by wrongly parked vehicles, which leads to traffic jams. The Administration should identify unutilised land that could be converted into a parking lot. Surveillance by the Traffic Department should be increased. Parking on roadsides or on pavements can be checked to some extent if paid parking slots are made free for first few minutes.

Dr Anupreet Kaur, Mohali

Tow away wrongly parked vehicles

Hefty fine is the best possible solution for wrongly parked vehicles. For this, the Traffic Police Department will have to pull up its socks. There should be no leniency towards wrongly parked vehicles. Such vehicles should be towed away and impounded. No-parking signboards should be put up in such a way that these are easily visible to drivers. The Traffic Police should conduct seminars, painting and slogan-writing competitions from time to time to make people aware of proper and safe parking of vehicles. More parking arrangements should be made during the festive seasons.

Bir Devinder Singh Bedi

High per capita car ratio to blame

Parking mess is the bane of high per capita car ratio in the tricity. The right to have a car does not entail the liberty to park it anywhere at will. Parking pangs are the creation of some inconsiderate and irresponsible individuals, but pedestrians have to bear its brunt. Heavy penalty should be imposed on those found parking in parks or greenbelts. Vehicles parked on roadsides or footpaths/pavements should be towed away.

Lalit Bharadwaj, Panchkula

Impose curbs on new  vehicle registrations

Chandigarh has become the first city to register highest number of vehicles in all categories. The number is increasing with each passing day. Ironically, limited parking space is shrinking drastically due to encroachment and space occupied by street vendors. Unless curbs on registration of new vehicles are imposed and encroachments of all kind are removed, the day is not far when vehicles will be parked in the corridors of the market at night. Stringent measures are required at this moment.

Gobind Ahuja, Chandigarh

System, policies need complete overhaul

Restrictions on illegal vendors along roadsides, markets, especially in Sectors 17, 22, 34, and residential areas, implementation of traffic regulations and introduction of a systematic and well-organised parking policy are required to reduce traffic chaos and other related issues. Large number of vehicles and unjustified parking on roadsides during the peak hours and nearby sabzi mandis are now a normal scene. Under such circumstances, it will be certainly an uphill task for the Administration to check the ever-increasing problem of illegal and unorganised parking. System and policies need complete overhaul.

Dr Karan Singh Vinayak, Chandigarh

Encourage use of public transport

When it comes to solution to parking mess in the tricity, the first one is to encourage the use of public transport among people instead of private vehicles. Secondly, working people should try carpooling to curb congestion on city roads. In this way, four to five people can reach the same destination in a single vehicle.

Nakhpreet Kaur, Sanghol

QUESTION

The amended Motor Vehicles Act, which provides for sterner penalty to traffic violators, has come into force in Chandigarh from September 1. The Act also provides for jail term to parent/guardian in case of underage driving. Do you think the new provisions will be able to improve traffic mess in the city?