Visitors suffer parking blues at railway station

People visiting the Chandigarh Railway Station to drop or pick their near and dear ones have been inconvenienced as they find it hard to park their four-wheelers in the designated parking spot on the Chandigarh side. The parking space provided right in front of the entrance to the station has been reduced considerably due to the ongoing redevelopment of the station.

People complain by the time they find a spot to park their vehicles, they miss their train. “I run a gifting business for which I travel to Delhi frequently. Earlier, I used to park my car in the parking lot as I return the same day. For the past few days, it has been getting so hard to find a parking spot. The parking area used to be spacious but has been limited due to the ongoing construction work,” said 37-year-old Naresh Grover. While a parking lot is operational on the Panchkula side, it is not a feasible option for visitors and passengers coming from Chandigarh as during the peak traffic hours, it takes over 30 minutes to reach that side of the station.

"Why do the parking staff keep on letting cars in when they do not have vacant spots in the lot? The situation remains chaotic. The railway station is anyway very far for visitors like us who come from Mohali. I am here to drop my old father and I could not even go along with him to the platform picking his luggage because I could not park in time," said Mohali resident Karanjot Singh.

Despite calls and text messages, the Public Relation Department official from Ambala Division of the Railways remained unavailable for comment.

Project deadline missed twice

The railway station, which caters to people from Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, has been in news lately due the ongoing redevelopment project, which has missed deadline twice. The work is being undertaken at a cost of over ~500 crore under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. The April 10 deadline was extended to May 31 and further to three more months.