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.

Four-laning of Zirakpur-Patiala road to begin soon

Rajiv Bhatia
Zirakpur, December 12
Work on four laning of the Zirakpur-Patiala highway is expected to commence shortly with the public works department asking the Zirakpur municipal council to submit an estimate of the cost of clearing the expressway. The PWD had earlier written to the MC to remove the streetlights on the highway which were under the latter’s jurisdiction.

According to MC officials, the PWD had sought the estimate of clearing a three kilometre stretch under the civic body’s jurisdiction before work on four-laning of the 55 km long highway could commence.

The department has been told to remove all streetlights and asked to prepare the estimate. The MC officials also stated that the MC had already issued notices to shopkeepers on the highway to remove encroachments.

Zirakpur executive officer SK Sharma said after receiving the PWD’s letter the department concerned had been asked to prepare the cost estimate which would be forwarded to the PWD soon.

When contacted, SDE Pawan Nagpal said the work on the four-laning of the highway would start soon. “Tenders for the project will be invited at the beginning of the new year. A private company will be given the contract to construct the expressway on a BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis”, he added.

Nagpal said the PWD had asked all municipal councils that were under the jurisdiction of Zirakpur to submit the cost estimate on clearing the expressway. He said after getting the estimate, payment would be made to them according to their estimates and after that the department would not face any difficulty during the work to widen the highway.

“The Zirakpur-Bhadurgarh stretch of the highway will be four-laned while the stretch from Bhadurgarh to the Patiala bus stand would be six-laned. The expressway will be completed by March 2012”, Nagpal added.

This stretch is known for being accident prone and plagued by incessant traffic jams. According to the police, more than six accidents are reported in a month on an average, with most mishaps occurring at night. Mean while, work on four-laning of the Zirakpur-Kalka highway is in progress and is expected be completed soon.

Supper Club

Supper Club launched...

The catering standards in the tri-city are likely to be enhanced with the launch - today - of Supper Club, an outdoor concept catering company that is part of the Nagpal Frozen Food Group. The moving force behind Supper Club, Mr. Sahil Nagpal, is a graduate of the prestigious Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition, Mumbai. He has worked under some of the leading chefs of the country including Chef Vernon Coelho and Chef Hemant Oberoi. In an added plus, Mr. Nagpal has also undergone training at the Institute of Meat Processing, Hyderabad for handling meat and worked with nutritionist Dr N. Kondaiah.

According to Mr. Nagpal, “Our objective is very clear. We want to give our clientele a unique experience in luxury dining outside the restaurant doors. Most guests get fed up with attending back to back functions as they seem alike in terms of menu, concept and presentation. We are looking at carving a niche for ourselves by introducing a number of specialized services like Silver Service, Gueridon Service, Kiosk Service, Platter Service etc.”

Talking about the importance of hygiene, Mr. Nagpal said, “Our focus will be on maintaining the highest standards of hygiene not only in the guest areas but also the kitchen. We have set a number of processes and standards in place to ensure that raw as well as cooked food is kept in a sterile environment in the kitchen area. Our chefs and support staff will be required to maintain the highest standards of cleanliness and hygiene,” he added.

Supper Club will cater to Corporate Gatherings, Kitty Parties, Exhibitions, Weddings and Functions where there are 50 to 1000 guests. The company will look to innovate new concepts and re-innovate the basics so that the guests savour the ambience created by the food and service. The guests would be offered the best suited menus for their functions, carefully selected by a team of Chefs of Supper Club.

No lessons learnt

Trucks continue to take U-turn

Rajiv Bhatia

Zirakpur, December 4
It seems the Mohali police and the local administration have not learnt any lesson from the yesterday’s tragic incident in which two persons were burnt alive when the Honda City car they were travelling in hit the oil tank of a multi-axle trailer taking a U-turn through an illegal turning on the Chandigarh-Ambala National Highway.

The authorities concerned failed to take any measure to close the illegal median at entry point of Zirakpur near the sales tax barrier.

A visit to the spot revealed that trucks were crossing the median putting at risk their as well as commuters lives in danger. Traffic cops at the spot were mere spectators as they failed to take action against the errant truck drivers. A number of trucks parked on the roadside at the sales tax barrier also cause traffic congestion.

In the absence of any blinker, indicators and streetlights, minor accidents are a routine affair on the stretch.

SSP, Mohali, GPS Bhullar said they had already written to the Mohali DC and the Excise and Taxation Department to provide parking facility for trucks to take the U-turn. The entry point too needs to be widened. “Since most of the trucks don’t have permits to enter Chandigarh, they need space to take the U-turn,” he added.

Dera Bassi DSP JS Khaira said the issue of illegal thoroughfare near the sales tax barrier had repeatedly been taken up with the authorities concerned. He said he had already written to the Mohali SSP for removing the sale tax barrier.