Lack of parking space leads to traffic jam in Zirakpur

Rajiv Bhatia

Zirakpur, January 24
Chaos prevailed at Zirakpur following a major traffic jam that was witnessed due to ongoing shopping festival at the Paras Down Town Square here on Sunday. The traffic came to a standstill at most of the intersections, causing harassment to daily commuters. Traffic cops had a tough time in managing the traffic at many places.

The commuters alleged that since there was no proper parking at Paras Down Town Square, they were facing parking problem and were forced to park their vehicles outside the mall.

A survey of the area revealed that the commuters faced inconvenience as they were parking their vehicles in no -parking zone. The traffic police failed to challan the vehicles as they were helping the commuters to park their vehicles outside the mall.

The shopping festival at Big Bazaar is on. It leads to heavy rush at the mall. Visitors from Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali throng the mall, which leads to problem of parking.

Sanjay Chawla, a resident of Panchkula, said hundreds of vehicles were stranded for more than half-an -hour on the Zirakpur-Kalka highway as they were struck in a jam, which was caused due to the shopping festival.

Jagtar Singh, a resident of Patiala, said it’s not the first time that he had faced the parking problem but the mall authorities had failed to provide proper parking on every festival or big shopping festival.

He stated that the authority concerned should think about proper parking before opening a mall.

Traffic in charge Manjeet Singh stated that the traffic cops were performing their duties to clear the traffic jam due to a heavy rush of vehicles at the mall. “We will strictly ask the mall authorities to arrange proper parking before starting any shopping festival”, he added.

Awareness week ends, traffic violations continue

Rajiv Bhatia

Zirakpur, January 10
Even after three days of conclusion of the road safety week celebrated by the Mohali Police, not much difference has been observed as traffic violations continue in Zirakpur.

Though traffic cops are busy in intercepting outstation vehicles, especially Delhi numbers, they hardly bother to challan traffic violators.

During the week-long road safety week they were educating people about the traffic rules like wearing helmets, using seat belts, refraining from over-speeding and installing reflectors on the rear of the vehicles. But it seems that this education was only for one week.

A visit to the area reveals that traffic violations are on a rise. Youngsters riding two-wheelers without helmets, vehicles coming on the wrong side of the highway, auto-rickshaws and rickshaws often parked on the roadsides posing a threat to other commuters are common practice.

A Himachal Pradesh-based truck driver alleged that traffic cops usually harass out station truck drivers and ask for “kharcha pani”.

Non-functioning of traffic lights in Zirakpur made traffic jam a routine affair as traffic police was not present on some intersections. Residents claimed that the traffic cops were always busy on their phones.

Zirakpur-based advocate Harinder Pal Singh Ishar said celebrating traffic safety week was a good thing but first the traffic police should educate parents and school teachers about the consequences of traffic violations. He said the school authorities should ban use of two wheelers for minor students.

Meanwhile, SSP, Mohali, GS Bhullar said the traffic safety week would prove to be a big help to streamline the traffic movement and to keep a check on traffic violation in the district. “We are calling the advisory committee meeting on Wednesday to discuss all traffic relating matters in the district,” he added.

Fog hits road traffic

Fog hits road traffic

Rajiv Bhatia

Zirakpur, January 7
With fog engulfing the region, especially in the early and late night hours, traffic on the stretch between Zirakpur-Lalru on the Chandigarh-Ambala national highway continues to move at snail’s pace due to poor visibility.

Traffic on the Zirakpur-Patiala road and the Zirkapur-Panchkula road has also been affected.

Commuters are facing hard times crossing the stretch, especially during night.

They complained that the four-laning of the highway had been of little help as streetlights were not functioning and trucks parked by the roadside also caused inconvenience.

A commuter claimed that streetlights from Sharma farm house to Dera Bassi railway overbridge were not functional, causing difficulty in locating vehicles moving ahead or those crossing the median.

Travelling on the highway during night was not easy as traffic moved at slow speed due to low visibility. Cyclists and pedestrians were the toughest to sight.

In the absence of streetlights on the entrance to Zirkapur, commuters faced difficulty in crossing the stretch till the flyover.

Also, dust on self-illuminating indicators along the edge of the road made things more difficult for motorists.

Visibility went down to a few metres from Chhat lights to Dera Bassi railway overbridge.

The work on widening of Zirkapur-Kalka highway was also posing problems for motorists.

“I had returned from Patiala and it took me five hours to reach here,” said Kapil, a resident of Zirakpur.

Fog was so dense that it was difficult to even judge the speed of your vehicle, he said.

Bus passengers also faced inconvenience due to the fog.

Vipin Sharma, a resident of Karnal, said he had been waiting for bus for the past two hours but most buses were apparently running late.

Buses usually ran on regular intervals for his destination but fog had affected travel time as well as the frequency of buses, he added.

yearahead-2010

Zirakpur MC to complete sewerage system this year

Rajiv Bhatia

Zirakpur, January 2
Deprived of the basic amenities like sewerage, water supply and metalled roads, Zirakpur residents hope that 2010 will be more eventful as MC officials claimed that they would meet the targets this year.

One of the important issues would be completing the sewerage network, as the deadline was March 2010.

Estimates for carpeting of roads have been drawn and the same will be given practical shape in the coming year. Beside this, Zirakpur has 30 tubewells for water supply in the area and soon the MC is going to instal 4 new tubewells to make better water supply in the area.

In the wake of declining water level in the Zirakpur region, the MC has planning to moot a proposal with the state government to have appropriate share of water from the Kajoli water works through Mohali district.

This year, the MC has planned to construct an indoor stadium in Nabha, 30-bed hospital in Dhakoli, modern bus stand at Zirakpur-Kalka intersection, sewerage treatment plant (STP) treatment plant in Singhpura village, new building of the Municipal Council in Bishanpura, golf course and a lake at Gazipur common land. Green parks are to be made in residential areas and the green belt is to be beautified under the Zirakpur flyover.

The MC official claimed the work of sewerage project under the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) is 90 per cent complete. The cost of project is Rs 52.19 crore. The sewerage laying work will be complete in the next three months.

Sources added that the sewer disposal and STP would be started soon as the MC had selected the land in Singhpura village.Four new tubewells will be installed at Baltana Ward No 12, Ward No 13, Dhakoli and Pabhat village in the coming year.

The residents had complained about the low-water level in Zirakpur, the MC would take up the issue with the state government to get a share of water from the Kajoli water works through Mohali district an MC official added. The work of 30-bed hospital and an indoor stadium have been started.

In 2009, the Zirakpur Municipal Council had become a grade-one category municipal body. The council had changed five executive officers in more than one year. The new executive officer Shatrajit Sharma from Mandi Gobindgarh was appointed few months back.

Before him the executive officer Sukhjinder Singh Sidhu was transferred. In February, Sidhu was appointed as the Zirakpur MC executive officer after Vijay Gupta, who was appointed an EO in December last year.

In the coming year, the residents of the area will also get two new mega malls, a private multi-specialty hospital on Zirakpur-Kalka road, two hotels with luxurious facilities and new housing projects in Gazipur. The housings projects will be passed on the guidelines of Zirakpur masterplan.

The work on four-laning of the Zirakpur-Patiala highway is expected to start soon. The work of widening of the Zirakpur-Kalka highway is in process and will be completed soon. The MC officials claimed that the development of the area would be completed on a priority basis.