MC submits list of hospitals with parking arrangements

Ludhiana: The civic officials while replying to the directions of Punjab and Haryana high court in the ongoing writ petition against parking violations by city hospitals have submitted a list of 128 hospitals and parking arrangements made by these hospitals.
In the list, some of the hospitals have agreed to make parking arrangements under one-time settlement (OTS) policy recently issued by the local bodies department, and a few have already made arrangements in the adjoining vacant plots.The officials have also mentioned about 13 hospitals which did not make any arrangement despite directions being issued by the court.
The HC had issued directions after a contempt of court was filed by city-based RTI activist Rohit Sabharwal. The contempt of court was filed in 2015, but the original petition was filed earlier in which court had directed the MC commissioner to ensure parking in hospitals as per law. But when the authorities failed to act and ensure availability of parking space near hospitals, the petitioner then filed contempt of court. In the previous hearings, the civic officials have been ensuring the court that they have been working in this direction and had even added that some of the hospitals have made necessary arrangements.
The MC commissioner KP Brar who appeared in person in high court on Wednesday claimed that though no discussion took place, they have submitted their plan in the court. She said those who have complied with the orders and have ensured parking arrangements will remain open, but those hospitals where parking is still not available at the moment will have to face action by MC which can even seal their premises.
Notably, the petitioner had filed complaint against 39 hospitals in the beginning, but the high court had asked the MC to ensure parking in all the hospitals coming under MC limits. The hearing has been going on since the past three years. Due to lack of designated parking space outside hospitals, people park their vehicles on roads which leads to traffic jams.