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Updated At: Sep 26, 2022 08:05 AM (IST)

Vehicles parked haphazardly in front of the New OPD block in PGI. - File photo

Parking facilities in Chandigarh, especially at the PGI, need some improvement, considering the ever increasing footfall at the institute. A big parking facility nearby the PGI, battery-operated shuttle service and smart cycle docking stations can help overcome the problem.

Encourage staff to use public transport

The authorities concerned should consider multilevel automated parking, which not only saves space but also ensures a better security and safety of vehicles. Staff who walk, cycle or travel by public transport to workplace should be icentivised.

Utilise sports spaces for parking

The PGI should move some departments to its new facility at Sarangpur. The space designated for sports on the campus should be allotted to medical stores and parking contractors. A plaza and underground parking planned for the Sector 11 market should be scrapped. At best, the food laboratory complex can be converted into a parking lot and connected with the PGI by an underpass.

Improve bus service to Mohali, P’kula

Not just the PGI, visitors face parking issues at almost all market places. The best possible solution for the PGI campus can be using playgrounds as parking lots. Valet parking with suitable charges will help alleviate parking blues. E-cycle service may be launched for movement between various clinics. The administration should improve bus service on routes connecting the city to Panchkula and Mohali. The underground parking will be a good alternative.

Go for multilevel parking system

The PGI authorities have to consider the multilevel parking system where visitors are charged on an hourly basis. The PGI authorities and the UT Administration together should find a concrete solution to this problem.

As more than 12,000 cars enter the PGI complex daily, the authorities should consider constructing a five-storey parking buildings at the existing lots. The dental hospital building should also be reconstructed to allow car parking on the third and fifth floor. It will not only solve the problem but also earn the PGI crores of rupees every year.

Need for effective shuttle service

The PGI authorities, in collaboration with the Transport Department, need to devise an effective shuttle bus service on routes connecting the adjoining cities. People visiting OPDs should be made aware of this service through hoardings put up at prominent locations on the campus. This would lessen vehicular load on the complex.

Without improving the local public transport and increasing parking charges, the problem of traffic rush and jams cannot be overcome. Metro is overdue for the city. The PGI staff’s cars and bikes account for 70% vehicles parked on the complex all the times, and they don’t have to pay any parking charges. The staff should be discouraged from bringing own vehicles by providing free transport service.

Footfall increasing day by day

There is sufficient parking space at the PGI for doctors and staff. Visitors and patients pay parking fee but they still suffer parking blues. As the footfall is increasing day by day, the visitors’ parking space has to be improved accordingly. The administration needs to act immediately.

It is a serious problem. It takes an hour to find space to park a vehicle. To ease the situation, the UT should expand parking capacity and improve the bus shuttle service on the campus. The parking area adjacent to the oral health science centre should be levelled so that it can have more vehicles. There is a need to set up a multilevel parking on the campus.

In view of the increasing footfall at the PGI, the authorities should consider setting up a multilevel parking. The electric cart service on the campus may also be considered to keep the increasing traffic in check. Lastly, people should be educated to cultivate the habit of walking by constructing proper walkways along all roads.

Col TBS Bedi (retd), Mohali

Earmark parking space around PGI

The administration must wake up to the situation and chalk out a plan to redress the issue. Some areas towards Nayagaon should be earmarked for paid parking service on subsidised rates. E-rickshaws or golf carts should ply from these parking lots up to the PGI premises. The vehicles bringing patients to the emergency ward should be allowed to drop off patients there and park at these parking lots. An underground parking or a multilevel parking seem to be the only solution to the problem.

Fix OPD day for local residents

Vehicles carrying patients from the neighbouring states should preferably be allowed entry to the campus. At the same time, tricity residents should be encouraged to use the public transport or else they be directed to park their vehicles in the nearby parking areas, as 80% visitors come to the PGI for regular check-up. Since most OPDs work for two days, one day can be reserved for

the residents of the tricity and the other for outstation patients, with exemption for serious patients.

Set up temporary parking lots

It takes an hour to park a vehicle during the peak OPD hours. The PGI authorities must create temporary parking spaces at the institute. Around 2,000 cars can be parked in the vacant area opposite the nursing institute. While the multi-level parking project is awaiting environmental clearance, the hospital authorities should ask the UT Administration to set up a multi-level parking near the institute.

Dispose of unclaimed bikes, four-wheelers

To overcome the parking problems, the authorities need to take steps such as constructing multilevel parking and expanding the existing lots. Unclaimed bikes and four-wheelers may be disposed of at the earliest to make available more space to visitors.

Special smart parking sensors provide real-time parking data, which helps drivers to choose from parking slots available. Apparently, modern technologies offer smart parking innovations which help drivers to reduce their stress and save oil.

Anita K Tandon, Mundi Kharar

Until the proposed multilevel parking sees the light of day, the authorities can launch the valet parking service to ease parking woes. The nearby market associations can be roped in to allow visitors to the PGI to park their vehicles in their respective areas.

Form committee to earmark land

The existing parking facilities for visitors are inadequate. Visitors are forced to park vehicles in front of residences in the Sector 11 market area. A panel should be formed to identify land on the PGI premises for building a multi-level parking.

Make apt use of vacant spaces

The doctors and the staff should have separate parking lots. Multilevel parking buildings should be built on the campus. All vacant spaces can be used as parking lots for the time being.

The hospital authorities should develop more parking areas and hold camps to make people aware of parking problems. The authorities can overcome the problem by carving out more parking lots or improving the existing ones.

Haphazard parking makes matters worse

Parking facility is woefully inadequate at the PGI. Haphazard parking makes matters worse. Joint efforts by the authorities and the public can help ease the problem. People should click pictures of vehicle parked carelessly and send these to the authorities concerned. Improving the public transport is the need of the hour. Smart parking would bring respite to people and they won’t mind shelling out extra, as it would help them save on time and fuel.

The administration should build a multilevel parking on the campus, especially for outsiders. E-rickshaw and shuttle services should be improved so that people can park their vehicles outside the institute and make use of this service. Another OPD should be opened in some area adjoining to the city.

It is frustrating when you are stuck finding a parking space and get late for your scheduled appointment with a doctor. The hospital authorities need to construct a multilevel parking on the premises immediately. Another option could be to have a sufficient number of e-carts or e-rickshaws (free service) at all entry points. This will decrease vehicle load on the campus. The authorities could also think of constructing an underground parking lot. For the staff, a shuttle service may be started and they be discouraged from coming in their own cars.

Dr Anil Kumar Yadav, Chandigarh

Regulate parking on the campus

Foremost remedy lies in regulating parking at the designated places. If possible, the department timings should be staggered. More ways, such as online appointments, should be found and implemented sincerely to reduce footfall on the campus. Services facilitating transportation of visitors on the campus should be improved.

Amid the video leak row, what measures should the university and college authorities take to provide students a safe and secure environment, besides ensuring that their privacy is not breached?

Suggestions in not more than 70 words can be sent to openhouse@tribunemail.com

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