The area around Chandigarh’s prime tourist spot—Sukhna Lake—is likely to be made vehicle free zone soon.
A proposal in this regard will be put up in the UT Administrator’s Advisory Council meeting scheduled to be held on Friday. The newly re-constituted Advisory Council will be chaired by Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore at Hotel Mountview.
Apart from the pedestrianisation on Sukhna Lake road, issues related to law and order and parking policy have been listed as agenda items for the meeting.
A senior officer of the UT Administration said that the proposal to make the area around Sukhna Lake vehicle free will be taken up in the meeting. A presentation regarding the same will be given following which, views will be sought from the members of the Council.
As per the proposal mooted by the UT Traffic Police, no vehicle will be allowed in the specific stretch earmarked to ensure safety of the pedestrians around Sukhna Lake. While traffic lights have been put up near Sukhna Lake but it is still unsafe for the visitors to cross the road from parking area to Sukhna Lake.
The senior officer said that presentation of law and order situation and parking policy will also be given during the meeting.
Some of the recommendations in the draft parking policy are dedicated high frequency bus service on three major roads of the city, provision of two gates in small houses, two cars to be parked inside a house, compulsory buses for companies with more than 50 employees, converting unused parks into parking among others.
Though the issue related to urban rail transit system has not been included in the agenda, it is also likely to come up for discussion during the meeting. The Council members are also likely to raise the issue of exorbitant challan fee following the implementation of Motor Vehicle Act, 2019 from September 1.The Advisory Council was re-constituted on August 5. The 58-member council is constituted to advise the higher authorities on developmental issues and policy matters affecting the union territory of Chandigarh.
The term of this council is for a period of two years. The last meeting of previous Administrator’s Advisory Council was held in February this year.
After a Congress delegation met UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore on Wednesday seeking more representation from the party in the Advisory Council, one more member from the Congress was included in it taking the total number of member to 58.
Congress leaders namely former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, Chandigarh Congress chief Pradeep Chhabra, Congress councilor and leader of opposition in MC House, Devinder Singh Babla are in the Advisory Council. Eight representatives from the BJP have been included in the Council.
This time, the representatives of other political parties including Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, CPI were not included in the Council.
Other members in the Council included MP Kirron Kher, ex-MPsSatya Pal Jain and Harmohan Dhawan, Chandigarh Mayor, ex-Mayor Davesh Moudgil, Director PGIMER, Vice Chancellor Panjab University, Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, ex-Chief Secretary Haryana, DS Dhesi, Punjab ex-CS Sarvesh Kaushal.
