Parking mess troubles traders

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 13

The Sector 20 market has been reeling under severe parking woes for a long time now. Not only this, street vendors have increased in number and are trading on space meant for parking vehicles.

There are four markets in Sector 20, which cater to the needs of the residents of the area. Two booth markets are also situated in the sector. The wholesale cloth market in Sector 20-D and the computer market on the Dakshin Marg are major markets in the area.

Naresh Garg, president of the Market Welfare Association, Sector 20-D, said parking space was a serious issue, which the commuters faced on a daily basis.

The slip road in front of the market was very narrow, leading to huge traffic jams. The market association had requested the administration to widen the road many a time, but to no avail, he said.

Naresh said, “The condition of the backside of the market is also not good. Paver block can solve the parking problem to some extent.”

SS Luthra, president of the Wholesale Cloth Market Association Sector 20-D, said no regulation at the parking lots by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and UT Traffic police led to chaotic scenes every day.

Ashish Satija, general secretary of the Wholesale Cloth Market Association, said there was only one entry and exit point in the market due to which traders were facing parking issues. He said the association had taken up the matter with the SSP (Traffic) several times, but nothing had been done so far. The Sector 20-D inner market was also facing the problem of parking and illegal vendors, he said.

A trader said the MC and the police failed to curb the increasing number of vendors, which were eating away space meant for parking vehicles.

Mohinder Singh Namdhari, chairman of the Market Welfare Association, Sector 20-C inner market, said the increasing number of street vendors was the major problem that the market was facing. The police should crackdown on these vendors, he said.

Four markets in Sector 20

There are four markets in Sector 20, which cater to the needs of the residents of the area. Two booth markets are also situated in the sector. The wholesale cloth market in Sector 20-D and the computer market on the Dakshin Marg are major markets in the area.

The market faces chaotic scenes every day due to lack of parking space. Street vendors also eat out the little space meant for parking. —Mohinder Singh Namdhari

Narrow slip roads in front of the Sector 20-C and D markets should be blamed for huge traffic jams in the area. The computer market gets customers from other areas also, but due to poor parking, we fail to understand what the image we present before them. —Naresh Garg

The traders at the Sector 20-D market on the Dakshin Marg are also grappling with the parking problem. Private taxis and other vehicles occupy a majority of space, causing inconvenience to them. —SS Luthra

There is only one entry and exit point in the market, which results in traffic chaos. The authorities should fix the problem. —Ashish Satija