Tuesday, November 30, 2004

I received a mail from Satish Sapra who talks about issue of encroachment of public places. He says, “In the issue of TODAY dated 24 November 2004, you have rightly pointed out one of the main causes of traffic jams and unwieldy parking of vehicles in the residential areas of Delhi, is encroachment of public places, be it road or pavement. “In the residential colonies, the illegal encroachment by residents has left very little space for parking. If it is not encroachment, per se, keeping earthen pots blocks it, which further narrows the available road space for public use.“Because of lack of space available for parking, there have been cases of hot exchanges between the neighbours and some times police had to intervene with no permanent solution. The scenes of abuses and fights are very common these days. In one of the cases, the bullets were used. If this continues, time is not far when there will be often cases of murders due to lack of parking space. “Therefore, it is most urgent for the authorities to demolish the encroachments on the main roads as well as in the colonies, in order to ease the situation. RWAs should also play a proactive role to persuade the residents to demolish the encroachments and leave the space for public usage. Your efforts to shake the authorities and the RWAs for this visible solution will be very much appreciated.”Delhi’s biggest problem is of encroachments and I think it is high time that traffic police, DDA and MCD should start looking at it seriously. With a joint effort they can easily get rid of these encroachments from Delhi roads.Traffic AdvisoryBJP is organising a rally and march from Ram Lila Ground to Parliament House today. Traffic will certainly get disrupted due to the march. The Delhi Traffic Police has made elaborate traffic arrangements to ensure that general traffic is not disrupted.In view of the march, the road network around Delhi Gate Crossing i.e., Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Subhash Marg, Bahadurshah Zafar Marg and Asaf Ali Road will be closed for all types of traffic during noon hours. No Heavy Goods Vehicle and Light Goods Vehicle shall be allowed on Ring Road between wazirabad Bridge and Nizamuddin Bridge. No slow moving traffic will be allowed to enter Ring Road from East Delhi.Bus services too will get affected. No bus service shall be allowed to ply around Ram Lila Maidan. All buses coming from Mathura Road, Shahjahan oad shall be diverted to take Bhairon Road and join Ring Road to reach their destination.Buses coming from West Delhi via Paharganj Bridge shall be curtailed at Paharganj to resume their return journey.Buses coming from East Delhi and using Delhi Gate crossing to go to Red Fort, Railway Station shall not be allowed to turn left from Rajghat crossing. They will go straight and use New Daryaganj Road.Similarly buses coming from Red Fort, Old Delhi Railway Station via Subhash Marg shall be diverted on New Deryaganj Road to continue their journey on Ring Road. Buses coming from Connaught Place side shall be diverted from Bhav Bhuti Marg to resume their return journey.In view of road closure, the congestion is expected on some roads. Motorists are requested to avoid these roads and use alternative roads to reach their destinations during noon hours.

Monday, November 29, 2004

Rakesh Jaggi has sent another mail where he talks vehicles with tinted glasses. He says, “I would like to emphasise that the private vehicles with tinted glasses must be punished severely. It is very obvious that most of the people using these vehicles take advantage of the non-strictness of the police force for committing different type of criminal acts. I feel very sad and disappointed with the authorities to see these cars plying on the road without any hesitation and committing their wrongdoings. “Let us take this subject very seriously and with loud and clear words at all levels. The authorities must catch the vehicle and note the complete details with immediate cleaning of the dark foils or confiscation of vehicle. I have seen the occupants of these tinted or blackened vehicles waste no time in making mockery of the rules and regulations. Most of the people having these vehicles have premeditated notions and execute the same. “The authorities must not excuse any particular individual to have these black glasses and it should be for one and all. I am sure you will agree with me for immediate and urgent action for this type of problem.” I agree fully with you regarding this matter. Traffic Police should launch a special drive to check these vehicles.Meanwhile, everything has gone fine for the traffic police officials till now. The trade fair was a success, they also have tackled marriage problem, but have you ever thought about the plight of lower constabulary of traffic police. On Sunday night I met few constables at Andheria Mod. I was very touched by the way they were working. One told me that for the past three days they were coming on duty at 5 am and were working till 12.30 at night. And Sunday being the D-day for them, they were not sure when they were going home. One constable had stiches on his eye and he told me that he was supposed to have got them cut on Saturday. But he didn’t get the time to go to the doctor. Another jokingly mentioned that they have to attend the call of nature during duty hours only as their reporting time is very early in the morning. Well, now you can imagine their plight and the circumstances under which they are serving you. So next time you meet them on road, say thank you!

Sunday, November 28, 2004

I received another mail from Rakesh Jaggi who had earlier lamented that media has not taken a note of the role played by traffic police during the trade fair. After reading our last Monday’s cover story he said, “I feel it is encouraging for all of us to note the good work of the authorities in regard to the traffic movements and compliment the same. It is very important for all of us to come forward and applause the good work of police as most of the time we are criticising them for their acts without analysing the situation. I am not trying to be biased towards the police force but feel that we should not lose any time to praise and reward their good work for us.“If we all collectively decide to implement the traffic movement formula of trade fair on most of the roads of the city, then very soon we would have the fruitful results. However, it may look very theoretical but one must not forget the positive and effective results in and around the Trade fair. “I would like to suggest that the local authorities must make available some of their Employees for few hours in a week from all ranks in rotation to assist the Traffic police as this type of operation would require a good amount of man power. Also, there should be a system to reward these traffic volunteers for their work and assistance. This type of reward would not only encourage the volunteers but would be good motivation to general public. We all try to take advantage of our system by parking our vehicles on the main roads or controlling the good part of the roads for our personal or commercial use giving a blind eye to the sufferings of thousands of our fellow road users. If the authorities take this matter seriously and implement this in phases then very soon our Delhi would be surely a role model of the Traffic for the whole world.”Well, a welcome advice but only good if it is implemented. I just hope this rule is at least applied on the roads where Metro construction is taking place.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Debashish Panda called me from Noida to talk about traffic problem in Noida. He says, “I stay in Sector 62 in Noida everyday I go to my office situated at Sector 16 A. It is a stretch of 12 kilomteres. In between this stretch there are 5-6 traffic signals but none of them are synchronised. Since it is a major arterial road, the traffic police in Noida should synchronise it so that we get a green channel every time we take it. Presently we have to stop at each red light which consumes so much of our precious time.”Well, frankly speaking Debashish, I don’t know much about how Noida traffic functions. But I know one thing that Delhi Traffic Police is running courses for UP Police who are posted in their traffic department. Since Noida is an important part of National Capital Region of Delhi, so I think the district authorities should be keener to give their residents the same facilities that Delhiites get, be it traffic police or local policing.Things like synchronising the traffic signals can be done easily but someone in the authority has to take an initiative. In terms of roads, Noida is better off than Ghaziabad, where the condition is just pathetic. Even lighting on the streets is a big problem in Ghaziabad, which is a major cause of worry for commuters as it is prone to accidents. Perhaps the Uttar Pradesh government should show some concern in developing Ghaziabad also. Invariably people coming from Meerut, Musoorie, etc. get caught in traffic jams at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. The district authority should show some respect to commuters by providing better traffic management in border areas. Haryana in those terms is good. Perhaps if travelling on GT Karnal Road, one feels relieved once we enter Haryana as the road conditions are perfect for driving. On the contrary if you enter Delhi from Haryana, miseries of commuters start as the broadening of GT Karnal Road is presently under construction on Delhi side and it will take some time before Delhiites could heave a sigh of relief.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Kailash Nath Jasoriya called me about a year back regarding a traffic problem in his locality. Once again he has called me to tell that situation hasn’t improved. He says, “I stay on Ramjas Road and there is a tikki shop by the name of Sindhi Tikki house. He has encroached on the pedestrian’s path and virtually hijacked the entire place around his shop. Now in the evenings, lot of people come there to have tikkis in their cars due to which there is a huge traffic jam. The problem is that people park their cars on both sides of the road and choke it. Traffic constables and local police look the other way round. Since we stay there, we have to face such a big problem. To cover a distance of just 200 metres, it takes sometimes 20 minutes. We are living in a hell and traffic police should do something about it.”The problem of encroachments is affecting commuters and residents in a huge way in Karol Bagh, Rajinder Nagar and Patel Nagar. Forget about encroachments in old Rajinder Nagar roundabout there are seven odd cars, which are not roadworthy only. Two contessas, one Montana, a burnt Maruti car, ambassadors and fiat are among them which I haven’t seen them even moving in the past one year. Though the beat constables just sit on the roundabout, they haven’t thought of depositing these cars in MCD or even tried to find out their owners. They consume precious parking space in the area.I spoke to the SHO of the area about the problem and he told me “if we remove them, then the owners just appear from somewhere.” The cops should understand the problem of the area, as there is hardly any parking space. People are fighting for it and these useless cars are dumped on the roundabout. To top it all just two weeks back someone dumped a brown contessa car, which is in tatters. And since then it hasn’t been moved from there. I think in all such localities where such cars are dumped, cops should conduct a survey and deposit unused cars with the MCD.

Monday, November 22, 2004

Yesterday, I told you about how well the Delhi Traffic Police is managing traffic at the ongoing India International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan. However, their glorious achievement has been nullified by other civic agencies. I am pointing out towards lack of proper lighting for pedestrians on Mathura Road. On the persistence of traffic police officials, on Sunday the agencies involved started putting lights for the pedestrians along Mathura Road. Another problem is the lax attitude of MCD. On Friday evening at some stretches, streetlights on Mathura Road at Pragati Maidan conked off. An international level fair is happening at Pragati Maidan, the officers should have ensured that lighting remains proper at that stretch. Forget about making proper arrangements, the streetlights were not even working on Sunday evening. It was a dark affair. Such things should be rectified immediately so that no inconvenience happens to the public. The government should take errant officers to task that are responsible for this.Another important thing that I have noticed is the landscape of South extension has changed considerably for good. Planners have a done a good job here. The location of the subway is perfect and for convenience of the public, the location of the bus stop has also been shifted to entry and exit points of the subway. These two facts have ensured that pedestrian subway is used to the optimum. Usually in Delhi I have noticed subways are located 200 metres away from the actual bus stop, which forces pedestrians to cross the road from the bus stop only. To my notice South Extension is the first place where planners have executed a beautiful job by thinking in the right direction. I hope in future too, they think pragmatically about these solutions. Another important fact is that government should expedite the making of foot-over bridges at proposed places. The second foot-over bridge (FOB) was also built within one month near Bhagwan Das Road-Mathura Road T-point. So why work on other important locations haven’t started yet? It's been two months since Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Qamar Ahmed had shot off a letter to PWD, Engineer-in-chief to start the construction of FOB at Maharani Bagh, Delhi Haat and ISBT. Still nothing has been done. It seems the PWD officials are sleeping on the proposal while the Delhiites are suffering due to their lax behaviour.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

After a long time Rakesh Kumar Jaggi has mailed me. He writes, “It is indeed encouraging to see some improvements and change of the mind set of the people towards the traffic-related epidemic. Firstly, I would like to very much appreciate the think tank of traffic control around the trade fair for charting out the realistic plan and implementing it with complete resolve. “I feel sad that our media is not contributing enough towards the improvement of traffic-related problems. I must say that the electronic media is very passive on the subject due to non-glamorous nature of the subject. It is very common of the electronic media to highlight some pick-pocketing incident or other minor crime but not at all bothered about the traffic-related subjects. “It is very sad to see no cheers in any of the electronic media or appreciation of the good efforts and effectiveness of the traffic planning by the concerned authorities. Also, the print media has taken it very lightly inspire of its gigantic nature in general. I strongly feel that the following listed factors are very much instrumental in improvement of traffic in our country.1. The traffic related manners and etiquettes must be taught in primary schools and continued till the professional levels.2. The traffic-related meetings must be held at community centres or even at slum centres or in social centres. Traffic is related to all of us and the repercussions are felt by all of us without any bias. 3. The authorities concerned must work collectively to implement the traffic rules and civic authorities must provide the necessary required support on utmost priority. 4. The need to share and offer sharing in private vehicles must be encouraged with some special appreciation. I am of the strong belief that in fact, we do not have very big traffic problem but it has been made big by all of us. We do not cooperate or coordinate for our own good unless until forced to do so. This is very clear from the movement of the traffic at and around trade fair. We simply do not have driving etiquettes and try to look on others as some one has stolen something. We must think the traffic-related problem as National problem not bound to our cities or towns or states. If, our authorities, media, judiciary and politicians collectively endorse and support this issue then within couple of years, we can be a model for others.“I would like to once again applause the efforts of traffic police and other concerned authorities to show to all of us that nothing is impossible and we are capable of achieving anything and everything.”Well, definitely traffic police deserves applause for their traffic management during trade fair.

Soon the topography of Barakhamba Road will also be changed due to Metro Construction. The work for Dwarka-Barakhamba Road (Line 3) extension will start from December 1. Metro people are presently busy cutting trees on both sides of Barakhamba road as well as breaking the pedestrian’s path in order to expand it. Traffic police claims that traffic will remain unaffected due to the expansion of Barakhamba Road. DCP (Traffic / New Delhi Range) A.S. Cheema says, “We have asked them to provide the same space to motorists as it is now. Since Metro work will be on the middle of the Barakhamba Road, so DMRC is building the road on the sides. But traffic movement won’t be affected.” The only people affected due to this will be those who used to park on the service lanes. The Dwarka-Barakhamba Road Line 3 extension is supposed to have three stations extra viz. Mandi House, Pragati Maidan and I.P. Depot connecting the Ring Road. Mandi House will have an underground station and then in the middle of Sikandra Road, Metro will emerge on the ground. I hope at the Mandi House roundabout, traffic arrangement will be better managed otherwise it will be chaos there. Meanwhile, Sharad Kashyap from Yamuna Vihar has another problem. He says, “Madanpura-Tuglaqabad bridge is very dangerous. There are no bus lanes. Buses drive here at 60-70 kmph. Two to three accidents took place in the last three months. There are no police personnel to check the rash truck drivers. Please help me to get to the authorities.”

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Naveen Gupta wrote to me regarding traffic problem in Bhajanpura. He writes, “Bhajan Pura is the starting point for three bus routes. The problem is that in spite of having service roads on both sides of the main road, the buses (both private and DTC) for these routes always stand on the main Wazirabad road and keep one lane completely occupied most of the time. This is because shopkeepers and vendors have encroached upon the service road, especially on left hand side if you are coming from outer ring road to towards Bhajan Pura.“Most of the time drivers park their buses in front of the bus stand also, which is situated hardly 25-30 metres before the red light at Bhajan Pura crossing. Commuters have no option but to wait for buses in between two parked buses or in the middle of the road, which is extremely dangerous.That is not the only problem. Though there is a specific cut-off time for trucks to be plying on city roads, on Wazirabad Road this rule is openly flouted and trucks ply throughout the day.“All this has created a chaotic situation for traffic movement near Bhajan Pura crossing and has increased the risk for everyone on the road. Unfortunately, the traffic police or Delhi Police have not bothered to solve this problem even though there is a traffic police booth at the crossing and Bhajan Pura police station is hardly 50 metres from the main road. I appeal to the concerned authorities to look into the matter. I hope you will make this plea be heard in the corridors of power.”For the traffic problem of North-East Delhi, I spoke to DCP Traffic (New Delhi range) A.S. Cheema. He said that movement of trucks on this road is open round the clock. "However, we are planning to stop the movement of trucks during peak hours. The notification will come out shortly," he added. I hope once it is implemented, situation will be better there. Meanwhile, Sharad Kashyap from Yamuna Vihar has another problem. He says, “Madanpura-Tuglaqabad bridge is very dangerous. There are no bus lanes. Buses drive here at 60-70 kmph. Two to three accidents took place in the last three months. There are no police personnel to check the rash truck drivers. Please help me to get to the authorities.”

Thank god it’s over! The festival season has finished and so has Delhi’s traffic woes. On Wednesday night, it took me almost three hours to get out of Delhi. I was supposed to take the GT road towards Karnal (NH1), but it took me almost three hours before I reached Singhu border that day. I started from Punchkuian Road and then took the Ring Road thinking that flow of traffic would be just fine. On the contrary wherever I went there were jams.Another problem, which can be easily rectified, is on Leo Tolstoy Marg. A central verge is an absolute necessity there as most of the vehicles that have to go towards Janpath cross the road from wherever they like blocking the path of vehicles headed towards Barakhamba or K.G. Marg. This creates an unnecessary jam and it took me half an hour from Janpath intersection to reach Barakhamba intersection. I believe during peak hours these jams are constant phenomena as most of the cars coming out of the adjacent parking areas block the road. If a permanent solution is not possible then dividing the road with ropes can be done as a temporary arrangement during peak hours.Another problem is at Dr K.B Hedgevar (Bye-pass) road connecting ISBT to G.T. Road. Presently expansion of this road is happening and at night driving through this road is extremely dangerous. First of all there are hardly any streetlights at this stretch. At one stretch there are dimly lit tubelights, which hardly cater to the needs of motorists. Only at one stretch there are mercury lights. The construction site is not at all covered. Instead huge boulders are kept on the road, which divide the construction area from the main road. This road is an accident black spot and sees heavy movement of cyclists and two-wheelers apart from the regular trucks and buses. The authorities should take safety measures while construction work is going on this road to avoid accidents