The Punjab and Haryana High Court has suggested designating a portion of sector 17 as a vehicle-free zone after 4 p.m. The Bench also directed the Chandigarh Administration to find ways to improve the parking situation in the city.
Hearing a petition on the increasing congestion in different sectors of Chandigarh, the Punjab and Haryana High Court reiterated its suggestion of making vehicle-free zones in each sector on a rotational basis. The bench suggested that the Administration should start from Sector 16 where many VIPs including bureaucrats and judges reside.
The bench made it clear that if the Administration fails to take a decision, it would pass an order in this regard.
Senior standing counsel of the Chandigarh Administration Sanjay Kaushal sought time to implement the directions.
Kaushal informed that the matter was already under consideration by the UT authorities. Though the process of working out a plan was already on, it would take some time to make it concrete and then enforce it, he said.
The bench, comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ajay Tiwari, also suggested that some area of Chandigarh could be reserved for running eco cabs or specially designed rickshaws.
During the hearing of the case, the court was also informed about the traffic chaos in other cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar. The court asked Navdeep Kumar Asija, who was instrumental in designing and introducing eco cabs in Fazilka, to conduct a study in Ludhiana first and recommend the actions required to reddress the problem.
