Women To Man Smart Parking System In Chandigarh

In a progressive move, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation -- in association with Arya Toll Infra Ltd -- has launched a smart parking system that will be manned only by women. As many as 25 public parking spots in different sectors of Chandigarh will be covered by the system. However, the date of the smart parking system's actual operation is yet to be announced.

The women parking officers will also guard the multi-level parking lot in Sector 17 from 7.30 am to 9 pm. Men will be in charge of the parking lots after 9 pm.

The parking lots will also have “pink parking spots”, which will be specific places reserved only for women to park their cars. There will also be spots reserved for senior citizens and disabled drivers.

Arya Toll Infra Ltd is a Mumbai-based company which is building the project at an estimated Rs 14.78 crore.

The parking lots were without contractors in 2016, which meant huge losses to the civic body.

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“Women are able to handle all kinds of situations well and they are good managers. Chandigarh is the best city to start this pilot in the country because it is comparatively safer than other cities,” Sandeep Bhora, the project coordinator of Arya Toll Infra, told The Indian Express.

A total of 200 women are going to be appointed under the initiative, of which some will be from the Urban Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood Cell of the municipal corporation. The women will be given a customary training before beginning with the work. The training will begin from next week.

To ensure the safety of these women parking attendants, the parking lots will be CCTV-equipped. “Moreover, our entire staff would have an internal WhatsApp group and if any attendant faces any issue, she can immediately post it there,” said Bhora.

There is also some technological involvement in the parking system enabling mobile apps to reserve a spot in advance for motorists. All details of the space available would be given in the mobile app. In case no parking spot is available in a particular parking lot, then other nearby parking lots will show spots available there. The organisation is also thinking of bringing a system of auto-generated slips in the name of owners while parking their vehicles.

“Say, if a resident has to go to Sector 17, he can just book his parking space in the nearest parking lot of the sector. Online payments can be made through e-wallets or other facilities provided in the app,” said a municipal official.

Picture credit- The Indian Express