MC to form panel to spruce up city

Ravneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 18

In order to address parking problems of the city, the Municipal Corporation will form a committee comprising heads of all departments in the MC as well as those in the district administration here.

The corporation will form a ‘city beautification committee’ comprising members of the Police Department, District Administration, Forest Department, Water and Irrigation Department and others. Subsequently, the local body will make use of vacant areas available with the respective departments for parking of vehicles.

Mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu said: “Heads of all departments, including Water and Irrigation Department, Forestry Department, District Administration and the police, will be a part of the committee. We will hold discussions with the departments and use their land on lease or on other basis as possible.”

He said the basic draft for the purpose would be completed soon and the corporation would be able to initiate the process of holding dialogues.

The Mayor said another committee would be formed to check the chaos caused by mobile vendors on roads also. “We will designate a market for vendors in the city for which a committee comprising two officers from the corporation will be formed. The committee members will negotiate with the mobile vendors and will get the roads cleared.” He said the plan would be finalised by next week.

Meanwhile, people in the city said a majority of the traffic and parking issues in the city are prevalent because of lackadaisical approach of the MC itself. A shopkeeper near the city bus stand complained: “Earlier there were only two hotels near the bus stand, but now many have come up. No one manages the affairs in the area. Sewer pipes get blocked due to the same and sewerage starts overflowing on the road while the corporation does not pay any attention to it.”

Sheetal, another resident, complained: “The MC has ignored parking problems as well. Hotel owners install generators in parking lots outside and officers responsible to manage the issue do not check the misuse of public land.”

City traffic in-charge Karnail Singh said: “We held a meeting regarding traffic congestion with MC officials and shopkeepers on Bhupindra road market on Saturday. Suggestions to manage the traffic flow, including hiring an employee commonly for parking woes in the area, came up during the meeting. We will soon be able to solve issues in the area.