CHANDIGARH, SEPT 21 : Punjab Cricket Association secretary MP Pandove has written to the Chandigarh Administration authorities about his suggestions for proposed draft Chandigarh Master Plan 2013 for their consideration. He has infomed that Punjab Cricket Association is planning to build a 40000 capacity world class cricket stadium in the New Chandigarh Township which is coming up in Punjab State adjoining Chandigarh for which the association has already purchased 43 acres of land in Village Tira Near Chandigarh in the area earmarked as Sports Zone in New Chandigarh Master Plan.
The new cricket stadium will cater not only to the residents of the New Chandigarh but maximum number of spectators would pour in from Chandigarh, Panchkula and other parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
In this context Mr Pandove pointed out that the proposed master plan of Chandigarh did not have the connectivity of the Dakshin Marg with the PR – 4 of New Chandigarh. This he felt would result in serious traffic problems for Chandigarh as in the draft master plan there is no alternate connectivity between the two townships and the entire load of traffic would fall on the already overused Madhya Marg.
In the proposed plan a side road leads from Dakshin Marg to the boundary barriers of Chandigarh and New Chandigarh at which point the extended Madhya Marg also meets. This plan would result in huge traffic jams and would cause severe harassment to patients coming to PGI, students coming to Punjab University, and other institutions along Madhya Marg and Dakshin Marg.
He emphasized that cricket has been gaining in popularity over the years and the coming up of a new world class stadium with increased capacity and more spectators comforts would see and up surge in attendance international matches to be held in the new stadium. He stated that a crowd between 40-45 thousand spectators who would have to be cleared in a span of 45 to 60 minutes and in absence of PR-4 Connectivity the entire load would fall on Madhya Marg connection thus causing avoidable harassment to the residents of Chandigarh, Panchkula and other areas of Punjab.
Apart from this substantial vehicular traffic from the industrial town of Baddi in Himachal Pradesh will also be using the PR-3 Madhya Marg connectivity into Chandigarh since this road will be over 20 kms shorter than the present Chandigarh-Panchkula-
He suggested that not only PR-3 and PR-4 be connected with Chandigarh Madhya Marg and Dakshin Marg respectively, even more arterial roads should be planned to avoid such traffic coming into Chandigarh, which is actually heading towards Ambala-Delhi.