E-Paper
Mullanpur PCA expands parking, takes 18 acre on lease
A senior PCA official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the parking area has been increased to almost 40 % by taking nearly 18 acre of land on lease from the farmers; now the parking area is spread over 40 acre of land
Learning lessons from the inaugural IPL match played at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on March 23 which was marred by massive traffic jams near the stadium due to inadequate parking space, the authorities have arranged more parking space this time.
A senior PCA official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the parking area has been increased to almost 40 % by taking nearly 18 acre of land on lease from the farmers. Now the parking area is spread over 40 acre of land.
Punjab Kings will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second IPL match to be played at the Mullanpur stadium on Tuesday.
With the stadium having the capacity to accommodate 32,000 spectators, the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) arranged parking for only 7,000 cars which was much lesser than the required parking space during the last IPL match played here. Two major parkings, including P4 and P6 parking lots, were taken on the lease by the PCA.
“Around 34,000 people were present in the stadium last time and thus there were around 15,000 vehicles which reached the cricket venue. Since the parking lots got full, people parked their vehicles on the roads, blocking the traffic movement, which led to absolute chaos,” a senior police officer said.
BCCI chief stuck in traffic
Even the team buses had to struggle to march ahead after the game. BCCI chief Jay Shah and IPL commissioner Arun Dhumal also got stuck in the traffic.
According to the police sources, a VIP road was earmarked but since Chandigarh authorities started re-carpeting of the main road on the same day, the traffic got diverted towards the VIP road.
“A VIP road was made on the wrong side while turning from Dakshin Marg towards the stadium on the service lane. Chandigarh authorities commenced carpeting of the road, due to which a UT traffic DSP deployed there diverted the vehicles towards the service lane, blocking the VIP road. Even Jay Shah’s vehicle got stuck in the jam and thus our senior police officials themselves rushed to the spot to give Shah a clear passage,” a police officer said.
Meanwhile, a senior administrative officer said that PCA was requested to arrange more parking before the match.
DC Aashika Jain said that a review meeting was held with the PCA and the concerned officials to ensure smooth flow of events.
On other hand, the authorities have decked up the key route to the stadium from Togan village till the stadium and has widened the road to avoid traffic congestion from Chandigarh side.
Though GMADA has made the PR4 road, connecting Mullanpur Cricket stadium, motorable, and has also repaired most of the damaged road; authorities are yet to complete two bridges including a partial side of the bridge connecting Togan road, at the beginning of Mohali, to the stadium and the bridge from Kurali side near Boothgarh village.
The road near Bhavan Vidyalaya School on PR-4 is yet to be opened from both sides due to the under construction bridge, therefore affecting the pace of the traffic which has to ply on one side of PR4.
Those coming from Kharar will have to take a diversion towards Maloya road as the construction at PR 7 near Palehri village is still in progress.
