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Festive frenzy unleashes parking pandemonium in Chandigarh
Shoppers turning to residential streets and roadsides to park vehicles, with few takers for parking lots of government schools in Chandigarh
As the festive season reaches its peak, parking lots at Chandigarh’s popular markets are struggling to accommodate the influx of shoppers eager to partake in the celebratory shopping spree.
The bustling footfall, a testament to the festive fervour, has left many parking lots bursting at the seams, prompting shoppers to turn to roadsides and residential streets, further compounding the parking chaos and impeding traffic movement.
Most surface parking lots are full to the brim, especially in marketplaces popular for Diwali shopping, such as Sectors 15, 17, 19, 22, 35 and 41, and Manimajra, leading to prolonged traffic jams during evening hours.
Though the city police and Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) have made temporary parking arrangements in various nearby schools, the facility has found few takers.
Encroachment by illegal vendors in market places and parking lots have further cut down parking space.
Since the civic body is yet to hand over the management of city’s 89 parking lots to a private contractor and is currently managing with limited manpower, it is exacerbating parking chaos.
‘Haphazard parking, traders’ vehicles to blame’
The parking lots at Sector 22 markets remain packed to capacity through the day. “The parking space is already limited and a lot of it is wasted due to haphazard parking. Also, shop owners and bankers park their vehicles in parking lots from 9 am to 9 pm, leaving little space for shoppers,” said Kultar Singh, president, Market Welfare Association, Sector 22-C.
“MC must deploy at least two people in each lot just to ensure that vehicles are parked correctly for proper utilisation of space,” he added.
Sanjeev Chadha, president of the Sector 17 MWA and general secretary of Chandigarh Beopar Mandal (CBM), said, “Though Sector 17 has enough parking capacity, including surface parking lots and a multi-level parking lot, long traffic jams are witnessed due to bus stand and carnivals in the Sector 17 grounds. Multi-level parking also always remains vacant as people wish to park their vehicles near the main plaza.”
Nisha Sharma, a Sector 38 resident, said, “On Monday evening, it took me 45 minutes to park my car at Sector 15’s Patel market. I had to wait in the residential area till I got space. Most of the area has been encroached by vendors and there is no cop or MC staff on duty.”
On why she didn’t park in nearby schools, she said, “I didn’t know about the facility. There were no boards or guides.”
On the police’s part, SSP (traffic) Manisha Choudhary claimed that cops had been deployed in busy markets to manage traffic flow.
“One-way circulation or segregation of traffic using barricades is also being done in some congested markets. Regular announcements are made regarding additional parking space in nearby schools. These have also been advertised through newspapers and social media also. Special signboards have been placed to guide visitors. Along with this, we are taking action against wrong parking by issuing challans, clamping and towing away violators’ vehicles,” she said.
Meanwhile, a visit to some of the schools on the list revealed closed gates. Staff at the Sector 32 government school claimed that they hadn’t received any letter regarding this. Further, they said, the school ran in double shifts. Therefore, till around 5 pm, the parking is occupied by teachers’ cars. Besides, the school is also far from the market.
Among colleges, Post Graduate Government College in Sector 46 is the only institution on the list, but the college authorities also claimed to be unaware of it.
Security guards at the gate said they will keep the gate open the day before Diwali, but they were unlikely to have any takers as the parking space was deep inside the college premises and the Sector 46 market already had extra parking on an adjacent vacant land.
At the Sector 19-D government school, located right in the middle of the sector’s busy market street, staff has been keeping the gates open from 2.30 pm to 9 pm since Dussehra.
With prominent signages displayed in the nearby markets, that are among the busiest in the city, staff said every year, their school ground found plenty takers for parking. Currently, around 10-15 cars show up for parking per day, they said.
Staff at the Sector 22 government school, located in the vicinity of both Shastri and mobile markets, also claimed that their school parking was being utilised, but was not at full capacity currently.
