On Wednesday, the Chandigarh Administration proposed a plan to make the city “honk free”, aiming to curb the penchant of residents to keep their fingers on the buzzer while driving. The authorities are also looking at a feasible plan, to be examined by the municipal corporation, to dispose of litter sensibly — signaling that the Administration wants all forms of pollution out of the city’s periphery.

The highly ambitious, “honk free” plan, will have as its first chapters and intensive campaign to create awareness before it culminates into a possible drive. A senior official said, “The people of Chandigarh have a habit of honking unnecessarily, particularly when caught at a traffic signal. The Inspector General of Police will check if this plan can work.” Both proposals were raised at the Secretaries meeting on Wednesday which was headed by UT Adviser Pradip Mehra.

It can be mentioned here that while the Administration succeeded in making the city “smoke free”, its proposal to ban plastic bags ran into rough weather at the face of resentment from traders. Though the plan was put aside for a while, UT Administrator S F Rodrigues revived it last month when he announced that the city would be made “plastic free” by February this year.

The Administration is also considering innovations in traffic flow by allowing vehicles to take left turns even if the traffic signal is flashing red. Under this plan, signals will indicate in green that left-bound traffic can move on without having to halt. This proposal has kept in mind heavy congestion at certain dividing roads like in sector 20-21 where traffic that has to go left actually ends up clogging the road. The traffic signals at slip roads will also be abolished.

Among other proposals is the beautification of entry points into the city. The forest department has also proposed planting one million trees in UT.

The Administration is also contemplating walking zones on the other end of Sukhna Lake, on the similar lines as those adjoining the Haryana Raj Bhawan.

The proposed walking zones will be near the existing Gurdwara and the green layer. However, wary of the criticism it faced on previous attempts to beautify Sukhna, the Administration has today sought public opinion before going ahead with the plan.