Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan will visit Chandigarh on Friday, his first trip to the city and to Panjab University since taking over as Vice-President and, ex-officio, PU Chancellor — and his first appearance at the university since the 27-day students’ agitation that shook the campus ended last November.According to official information available, the Vice-President will inaugurate the Advanced Instrumentation Facility at SAIF/CIL (Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility/Central Instrumentation Laboratories) and the Panjab University Tech Innovation Forum, the latter aimed at strengthening the university’s research, innovation and start-up ecosystem.Traffic curbs in placeChandigarh Traffic Police has issued an advisory for September 4, with vehicular movement partially diverted or regulated between 10.30 am and 11.30 am, and again between 2.45 pm and 3.30 pm, along the VVIP route.The routes to remain affected include Dakshin Marg: Airport Light Point to New Labour Chowk (Sector 20/21-33/34); Sarovar Path: New Labour Chowk to Sector 7/8-18/19 Chowk; Madhya Marg: Sector 7/8-18/19 Chowk to Sector 11/12-14/15 Chowk (PGI Chowk); Vidya Path: PGI Chowk to Sector 24/25 Light Point, towards UIET College, Sector 25 from 10.30 am-11.30 am and 2.45 pm-3.30 pm.Guests and staff are advised to use designated parking only; vehicles on cycle tracks, pedestrian paths or no parking areas will face towing.Police have appealed to commuters to follow real-time updates on the force’s social media handles and use alternative routes during the restricted windows.Visit at politically charged junctureThe visit lands at a sensitive moment for the university on multiple counts. It comes barely four days after the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) retained the PU Campus Students’ Council presidency for a second consecutive term on August 31, a first in the university’s history for the RSS-linked outfit, with the Shiromani Akali Dal’s Student Organisation of India extending it support after its own candidate was rejected.It also precedes the long-delayed PU Senate elections, which are scheduled to begin September 7 under the pre-October 30 structure — the same structure whose attempted overhaul by the Centre had triggered the month-long PU Bachao Morcha agitation last November. That stir began and ended soon after Radhakrishnan had assumed the office in September last; the poll schedule was approved by Radhakrishnan himself on November 27, in one of his early acts as Chancellor, paving the way for the students to call off their protest.The university is also without a regular Vice-Chancellor. Prof Renu Vig’s tenure, including a four-month extension, ended on July 29. Prof Meenakshi Goyal, then Dean University Instruction, was directed by the Chancellor’s office to take charge in her place; PU is yet to get a regular VC.Friday’s visit will thus be Radhakrishnan’s first hands-on engagement with a campus he has, since November, presided over from a distance — through the Senate poll approval and the written charter that ended the agitation — but has not yet visited in person as its Chancellor.