PU to monitor systematic parking of vehicles on campus

V-C Raj Kumar has constituted a 13-member monitory committee which will hold a meeting on October 18

With traffic congestion becoming a routine matter at Panjab University (PU), the varsity administration is planning to regularly monitor the systematic parking of vehicles on the campus.

Vice-chancellor (V-C) Raj Kumar has constituted a 13-member monitory committee with respect to the matter and its members will hold a meeting on October 18.

The move comes after the university’s repeated attempts to make PU a vehicle-free campus over the last few years.

The new committee was formed after different suggestions were given by the members of previous regulatory committee in a meeting on September 27. During the meeting, it was suggested that all the points marked as ‘No parking zone’ be properly notified and the university’s executive engineer should be directed to take immediate efforts for proper installation of signboards at the identified ‘no parking zones’.

‘NEW COMMITTEE TO IMPLEMENT PREVIOUS RECOMMENDATIONS’

“Three new members were added to the regulatory committee to form the new monitory committee which will implement the recommendations of the previous committee,” said a member of the new panel.

Besides a request to float e-tenders for engaging tow-away companies, the committee had also suggested that the chairpersons of each academic block hold a block-wise meeting over proper parking of the vehicles of faculty and students in the space available to them. The chairpersons may also devise their own mechanisms to properly organise the parking, the members had suggested.

The road leading from gate number 1 to 2 remains the worst hit as it remains flanked by vehicles throughout the day. In the morning, the area surrounding gate number 3 remains occupied with heavy vehicles, while the road leading from Admin Block to boys’ hostel number 5 reveals the same picture even during evening.

In March this year, the V-C had asked the teaching departments to observe ‘Vehicle-free day’ once a month, opt for car pool or walk towards their destinations in a bid to resuscitate the policy. But the V-C’s request has drawn no positive response so far.

‘ADMN LACKS CONCRETE POLICY’ 

“A senior university official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The university had intended to make the campus vehicle-free in last few years but never drafted a concrete policy. The target can be achieved only when they make proper arrangements for implementing the policy first.”

The newly formed 13-member committee includes dean students’ welfare (DSW), chief of university security, professors Rajat Sandhir, Balwinder Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Ronki Ram who is also the coordinator of the committee. “The new committee aims at implementing the suggestions made by the previous one,” said Ronki Ram.

In 2015, a majority of the university students had voted in favour of a referendum to ban four-wheelers in academic zones on the campuses on Sectors 14 and 25.