GRP personnel to address traffic pangs at Chandigarh railway station

Amarjot Kaur

Chandigarh, January 28

The Government Railway Police (GRP) has deployed four traffic personnel at the Chandigarh railway station to keep a check on the auto menace and to streamline traffic during rush hours, said GRP SHO Vilayati Saini.

Last week, Chandigarh Tribune had reported on the issue of chaos created by auto drivers and illegal parking at the station. The issue of illegal parking along the single-route auto lane for picking and dropping of passengers was highlighted along with the problem of parking of taxis on the exit route of the station.

Taking a stock of the law and order situation, the GRP swung into action and requested for more staff to be deployed at the station to manage the traffic pangs. “We didn’t have much staff and had already requested for more people to be deployed at the station to manage the traffic problem here. On Thursday, four people, an ASI and three subordinates, were sent to the city station from Ambala. They will manage the traffic here from now on,” said Saini.

He said any person who parked in the no-parking zone to wait for passengers would be fined. “Today, the traffic personnel warned people, but from tomorrow, they will be issued challans. We will not let anyone park their vehicles along the pick-and-drop routes, where the traffic should be moving always, be it an auto driver, taxi driver or a cycle rider,” he said.

GRP asks STA for revised rate list

The GRP has written to the UT State Transport Authority for revising the rate list of auto fares in the city to run the auto prepaid booth. Earlier, it was reported in these columns that the auto prepaid booth at the city station, which is manned by the GRP, had not been running since the lockdown. One of the major concerns, for both auto drivers and the GRP, was the unrevised rate list of auto fares at the booth. It was found that the STA had not revised the auto fare since 2013. “Two days ago, we had sent a letter to the STA for fixing the auto fare, which will be displayed at the prepaid booth. Once we get the rate list, we will start the prepaid booth too,” said Saini.