Wrong parking turns Chandigarh apni mandis a hotbed for traffic snarls
While few sectors provide a model for other mandis to follow, the situation has worsened in majority of them.
Although the traffic police has upped its ante against illegal parking, the apni mandis of Chandigarh remain rife with traffic violations, with residents saying there is a pandemonium every evening near the spots where the mandis are held. There are 13 apni mandi spots in the city, with two mandis being held every day, and one on Sunday.
Residents said in the evening, vendors put up their stalls by the road which further add to the rush.
Ranjit Singh Dhillon, executive member of the Sector 34 Resident Welfare Association (RWA) said the problem was with the mindset of the people.
“The Sector 34 mandi is situated next to three-four paid parkings run by Arya Toll booths, which mostly stay empty. Yet people prefer to park by the road to save ₹20 parking fee or avoid walking a few extra steps so they can hurl their bags full of vegetables into their vehicles and zoom away.”
He said that the RWA had spoken to the UT chief engineer multiple times in the recent past to make the exhibition ground there useable for parking, yet no assurance had been given to them.
An exception
On the other hand, Sector 15 provides a model for the other mandis to follow, where the residents had got the parking around DAV School paved for parking in 2006.
“The second hand books market is also near the location, so their parking also help ease the traffic here. The police is able to manage the rush of vehicles well,” said president of the sector RWA Surinder Sharma.
No management here
However, president of the Sector 43 independent houses RWA, Prem Singh, said amid lack of parking and despite the traffic police implementing one-way traffic system, the situation had worsened.
“Earlier people would park on the cycle tracks, but now the police has made it illegal. People park on the roads and no cop is there to monitor that. We are planning to take this matter up with the authorities,” he said.
However, the mandi board officials of Chandigarh and Punjab, present at the Sector 43 mandi, said, “The traffic police are present to monitor the situation, but some of the mandis are situated in busy residential places, leading to a problem. The mandis situated in the periphery don’t report such traffic snarls.”
On the other hand, senior superintendent of police (SSP, traffic) Shashank Anand refused to comment on the issue.
