Chandigarh, May 19 -- Panjab University (PU) is considering starting paid parking facilities for students and outsiders who come to the campus from next session onwards. Though this was earlier suggested by a traffic management committee formed by PU under Anil Monga from the Centre of Police Administration in 2023, a fresh proposal regarding this has been prepared by the recently appointed PU faculty in-charge for security. Dinesh Kumar from the PU department of laws was made the faculty in-charge of the security office to oversee its working after a recent inquiry probe was conducted by the varsity following the murder of 21-year-old University Institute Of Engineering and Technology (UIET) student, Aditya Thakur, on the night of March 28 outside the venue of a fest organised by the student council at the Sector 25 campus. Kumar said he has prepared the proposal to charge parking fees from outsiders to better utilise the space available in PU for parking. "Entry for outsiders will be from gate number 1 (opposite PGIMER). The parking on the left side of the gate will be a paid one. On the right, parking will be kept for two-wheelers and will also be paid," he said. Kumar added that going straight from gate number 1, the parking in front of the Indian theatre department will also be made a paid one. However, students would also be allowed to park here. He said the university will hold a tender for operating the paid parkings and the fees to be charged will be kept in line with what the municipal corporation (MC) charges for its own parking lots. It can be increased if the MC also increases its parking fees. Vice-chancellor Renu Vig said she is aware of the proposal. "Paid parkings along the lines of MC can be run in PU. We aim to start them from next session onwards after the provisions for ensuring stickers for students' vehicles are completed," she stated. Regarding students, Kumar said that those who bring their own vehicles can also pay for parking facilities. This will begin from the next session onwards after PU issues stickers for students' vehicles. He has also proposed a workaround at the Student Centre parking. "This parking will be kept only for students. We plan to open the wicket gate at the Gandhi Bhawan roundabout. Students can go straight from here for parking," he said. To the right, entry will be kept for faculty members only, with a parking for them being proposed beside University Business School. Kumar has also proposed creating two more parkings at the back of the Arts Block departments for faculty. He added that the ground in front of the Law Auditorium can also be connected to the Student Centre road in the future for being used as an extra space for parking. However, it is yet to be seen how the paid parking facility will integrate with the one-way traffic system recently started by PU. The road in front of the arts departments, which leads to the Student Centre, is one of two roads where the one-way traffic system has been initiated. While there were other recommendations made by the traffic committee constituted earlier, including opening of gate number 4 close to University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS) and setting up a centralised e-rickshaw system, he said these suggestions will now be re-examined. Kumar added that they will also reconsider the proposal to widen gate number 3, opposite the South Campus, to ease traffic congestion....