Eighty-seven parking spaces in Chandigarh are set to get revamped as union territory (UT) adviser Dharam Pal directed Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) to float “tenders for smart parking immediately,” reported The Times of India.
A statement on the above concern was released by the Chandigarh administration on February 23, 2023, after the contracts with the two agencies manning those 87 municipal parking lots had expired this January.
UT Adviser Dharam Pal, while interviewed by The Indian Express, said, “Parking is the city’s problem. The administration has faced a lot of flak over the parking issue. A draft of the policy will be placed before the General House of the civic body for discussion. We have merely drawn a draft of new smart parking. We have to become a smart city, and for that, a proposal needs to be made. We prepared a draft, and then it will be placed before the House for discussion. We are all working towards the same goal here, to provide good, smart facilities to the residents of the city.”
On the same day, the Mayor of Chandigarh, Anup Gupta, stated that the General House of the civic body is committed to ensuring the city residents reap the benefits of the smart parking from the first day and soon starting to draft the terms and conditions as per the tender.
“Also, several other issues need to be discussed — like the issue of giving a window of ten or fifteen minutes, whatever is decided, to allow pick-and-drop at these lots,” the Mayor explained.
Smart Parking Features to be Adopted in Chandigarh
The features that are expected to transform the 87 parking lots in the city are:
FASTag-based parking management system
CSCL has demonstrated the plan to introduce a FASTag-based parking management system in Chandigarh. The aim is to move the paid parking spaces to an automatic system wherein most of the toll collected will be cashless, requiring no vehicles to stop.
Besides FASTags, drivers, however, will have a range of options—such as cash, Paytm, or UPI—while paying their parking charges.
Parking Central Control Centre
All 87 parking lots are set to be connected with the Parking Central Control Centre, Police Command and Control Center (PCCC), and the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) for facilitating monitoring.
The purpose is to ensure the utmost safety of the drivers and vehicles by identifying and minimising incidents—such as tiffs or theft—inside the parking lots.
“The parking management system will be integrated with the Integrated Command and Control Centre of Chandigarh for data analytics and service monitoring,” said Anindita Mitra, CEO of CSCL and commissioner of Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC).
Automated and Single Entry-Exit
A proposal for deploying automated gate control at the entry and exit of the parking lots has also been introduced. An automated entry-exit system will allow authorities to control access by lowering or lifting the boom barrier and stopping vehicles from entering or exiting a parking lot unless authorised.
On top of that, since vehicle movement will be unidirectional, traffic congestion inside and outside the parking lot will be decreased significantly.
A Parking Management System Application
In order to constantly monitor the availability of each parking lot while also enabling keepers to book slots, the agency handling the city’s smart parking lots would need to use a high-end parking management app.
The Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
According to the MC commissioner, ANPR cameras will be installed to bring all 87 parking lots under stringent surveillance.
A cost-effective way to provide consistent data to parking enforcement apps, an ANPR camera helps ensure car parking safety and detect repeat delinquents or target vehicles/block-listed vehicles.
For a ticketless parking space, installing high-end ANPR cameras is critical to facilitate vehicle access control. Advanced ANPR technologies ensure a 100% capture rate accuracy under recommended lighting conditions.
Wrapping Up
Since Chandigarh was declared a ‘smart city’ in 2016, the revamp of the city’s parking management system has been long overdue.
The UT adviser expects to turn 25% of the 87 spaces into smart parking lots within one month of the grant of the contract.
Sohela is an electrical engineer and a self-professed writer with a keen interest in all things tech. When she’s not writing killer content pieces, you’ll find her enjoying tempting foods in her favourite restaurants.
