Chandigarh, 22 Feb:
Chandigarh councilor Rajeev Verma said he would ensure that officers are present at their offices during meeting hours normally open so that the public is not harassed. He said: “We are trying to fix opening hours for everyone, especially the departments that come into contact with the public. They will sit in their respective offices during public meeting hours to resolve their issues. The councilor said he had seen presentations from all departments over the past two weeks. “Chandigarh is a planned city and the officials are doing a very good job. However, I wanted to streamline things further,” he said. Speaking about the growing parking problem in the city's residential and commercial areas, he said this is his top priority and he will not hesitate to solve the problem. “During the presentation, I found out that Chandigarh has the highest traffic density in India and parking is a big problem,” said Verma. The UT administration is currently implementing a metro rail project in the city, but we want to come up with a solution to the parking problem in the city soon.
As for parking in residential areas, vehicles are parked on sidewalks, curbs and in parks outside people's houses, causing traffic jams on the roads and inconvenience to residents. People are inconvenient because sometimes cars park in front of their houses and they cannot drive.
After years of deliberations, the authorities announced a parking policy in December 2020 but failed to implement it successfully. The authorities later decided to revise this policy to make it more effective. He said, “We will have some form of coordination with the states of Punjab and Haryana to resolve various issues related to both Mohali and Panchkula.
Verma said he will also focus on leveraging information technology to facilitate the execution of the department's work.
On the startup policy, Nitin Yadav, the UT home secretary, who was also present, said, “It is almost finalised and we are hopeful of framing the policy soon.”