Chandigarh: PU defers plan to allow ‘sticker-only’ entry to vehicles
PU vice-chancellor Renu Vig said that PU will be unable to implement this and get the stickers printed on time for the students. “We will deliberate on this system more and iron out any other issues. We plan to implement this at the start of the 2025-26 session.”
Panjab University (PU) has deferred the plan to allow entry only to vehicles with stickers as the stickers are not ready yet. The varsity had been planning to impose the policy from May 1.
PU vice-chancellor Renu Vig said that PU will be unable to implement this and get the stickers printed on time for the students. “We will deliberate on this system more and iron out any other issues. We plan to implement this at the start of the 2025-26 session.”
PU registrar YP Verma had issued a circular regarding this on April 4. And while he had sought details of all students who are day scholars and bring vehicles to the campus, these will be used later as per the authorities.
“We will continue issuing stickers to teachers and non-teaching staff of PU. We are firm that entry to outsiders will not be allowed,” he added. Verma said the authorities are also discussing plans to impose one-way traffic in parts of the campus.
Verma added that they will also be taking strict action against hostellers who bring cars inside the campus. While hostellers are not allowed to keep cars inside campus and reminder circulars of this are issued from time to time, a line of SUVs can be seen parked outside the boys’ hostels in PU at any time of the day. PU authorities are considering fining such students.
Failed in past attempts
PU has tried banning the entry of outside vehicles on campus before but never succeeded. During the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) visit at PU in 2023, the visiting officials had recommended that the varsity should try and reduce the vehicle traffic on campus. A traffic management committee was also constituted by the V-C but no concrete measure to manage traffic has been introduced so far even though it has been two years now.
Checking inside campus starting to falter
While checking had been intensified after the murder of a student, Aditya Thakur, at South Campus on March 28, it has slowly started to falter. In South Campus, cars are seldom stopped or checked, while in North Campus, checking doesn’t continue throughout the day.
PU has meanwhile not been able to fix gaps inside its wall. The entrance close to the PU gurdwara isn’t monitored all the time. Even in South Campus, people from the nearby slums frequently jump the gate and enter the campus. There are places in PU where the wall has a low height and can be scaled.
There, however, has been a dip in the number of outsiders in PU. Avtar Singh of Students Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) said the difference is visible around the AC Joshi library as students have a better environment to study after these changes. Further, shops set up at Students Centre which were benefiting from the footfall for outsiders are running into losses, especially since exam season has now started in PU.
