From constructing an underpass to ease a long-standing traffic diversion between Sector 33, Sector 45 and Burail in Chandigarh, and averting an impending mass protest by the city’s cab and auto drivers, to addressing chronic traffic gridlock outside PGI’s new OPD gate, the 25th meeting of the District Road Safety Committee (DRSC), chaired by Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav, took up an 11-point fresh agenda on Tuesday that reflects both accumulated civic frustration and proactive administrative initiative.
Notably, five of the eleven fresh proposals were moved by the DC office, a signal that the administration is self-flagging road safety blind spots rather than waiting for complaints to escalate.
The UT Chief Engineer placed before the committee a proposal to open the existing road diversion between Sector 33, Sector 45 and the Burail area and to construct either an underpass or a bridge at the junction.
Photographic evidence presented in the meeting showed the junction operating with traffic signals, with directional flow running from Shanti Path towards both Burail and Sector 33. The proposal was put to the committee for decision, with the CE/UT office having initiated the technical groundwork.
The UT Chief Architect separately proposed closing traffic lights at the Sector 37C and 37D V-5 road junction and at the Sector 41 intersection on Shanti Path, indicating that signal rationalisation, rather than signal expansion, may be the more appropriate traffic management solution at these locations given prevailing traffic patterns.
Ground photography placed before the DRSC showed a visibly broken height-restriction barrier on Dadumajra Road at the entry to Dadumajra Colony, with the broken structure marked explicitly in the presentation. The proposal before the committee is to install new height restriction barriers at designated entry points to the colony to prevent the entry of heavy vehicles, which have been identified as a recurring hazard for the colony’s internal road network and pedestrian safety.
Traffic gridlock outside PGI’s new OPD gate
Another DC office proposal brought on record the persistent traffic congestion in front of PGI’s new OPD gate and the adjoining Sector 11 stretch. A photograph of the junction, showing buses, autos and private vehicles competing for road space on the narrow Udyog Path approach to the new OPD gate, was presented to make the case for structural traffic engineering intervention. The congestion at this location, where patient footfall is constant and heavy, poses both a road safety and a public health concern.
Judicial Academy Gate No. 2: Divider to be partially opened
An aerial satellite map presented in the meeting illustrated the geometry of the problem: the intersecting lane between the Sector 42/43 small chowk roundabout and the Sector 43 light point is currently blocked by a continuous road divider that prevents motorists from accessing Gate No. 2 of the Chandigarh Judicial Academy directly.
The CA/UT proposed partially opening this divider to enable smooth and convenient access to the Academy’s secondary gate, reducing the circuitous approach currently required.
PM RAHAT Scheme: NIC pushes for fuller implementation
The National Informatics Centre, Chandigarh (NIC), moved a proposal for fuller implementation of the PM Rahat Scheme, the cashless treatment programme for road accident victims launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13, 2026. With only 10 of 17 entries on the TMS 2.0 system approved so far, and four cases discharged due to non-response from investigating officers, NIC’s proposal seeks systemic strengthening of the scheme’s local roll-out.
School zone safety & national policy revision
The DC office placed before the committee a comprehensive item on school zone safety, covering multiple road safety issues specific to school zones and flagging the need to align local practice with the revision of the National Road Safety Policy. This is in keeping with MoRTH’s ongoing exercise to update the policy framework, and the DC’s office has sought the committee’s direction on city-specific action.
Dhanas Phirni Road & Sector 16-D, Udyog Path
The meeting called for traffic and road engineering works in the area of Dhanas Phirni Road and Sector 16-D on Udyog Path, a stretch that has seen growing traffic stress given its proximity to the PGI complex, the Industrial Area and the Dhanas-Burail corridor.
“The fresh agendas before committee is a reflection of where Chandigarh stands on road safety, significant progress on many fronts, but real gaps that still need engineering, enforcement and institutional will to close. The DC office has not hesitated to put its own concerns on the table, because road safety has no hierarchy of convenience,” DC Yadav told The Tribune.
The breadth of fresh proposals, spanning infrastructure engineering, signal management, commercial transport grievances, judicial compliance, school zones, scheme implementation and ward-level issues, points to a road safety governance matrix that has grown considerably more complex than the engineering-only agenda that once defined DRSC meetings.
