In an exclusive interview to MiD DAY, Delhi Urban Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan pulls up traffic cops for mismanagement of vehicle rush. The minister has a few ideas to offer as well
In an exclusive interview to MiD DAY, Delhi Urban Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan pulls up traffic cops for mismanagement of vehicle rush. The minister has a few ideas to offer as well
If this doesn't iron out Delhi's traffic snarls, nothing will.
In what can be considered a rap, Delhi Urban Development Minister Raj Kumar Chauhan pulled up the city's traffic department for failing to control the road rush.u00a0
"The situation on Delhi's roads cannot be improved until the cops review traffic management," said Chauhan, in an exclusive interview to MiD DAY.
The minister feels the government has built enough flyovers to smoothen the traffic flow, but the system needs to be streamlined. "Constructing flyovers at every intersection is impossible. Delhi has enough roads. Now it is up to the traffic police to review its management and implement it effectively," Chauhan said.
"You will hardly find any traffic police at sections where they are required the most. The department doesn't even care to deploy enough men to man trouble spots. But we are in the process of overhauling the entire system and the situation should soon improve," he said, adding that Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has often suggested the traffic police to review road management.
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"Just after crossing a flyover, vehicles often get entangled in bottlenecks caused by too many traffic signals within a short distance. After speeding on flyovers, commuters take 15 to 20 minutes to just cross a kilometre.
If four intersections with traffic signals close to each other are blocked, people can drive smoothly and those who need to take a U-turn will do so faster from the fifth cut," the minister said. Chauhan is also not pleased with speed-breakers on flyovers. "Flyovers are constructed to make the traffic flow smooth. But speed-breakers slow vehicles down. There can be alternative options like installation of warning signboards to control speeding traffic."
Chauhan suggested the traffic police should study the pattern of vehicular movement in various sections and then customise solutions. "They can utilise two-way roads as a single lane during peak time. The bulk of the traffic moves in one direction during office hours in morning and evening. They should use the other side of the road as an extra lane during this period to ease jams. This practice is already followed in Mumbai," he said.
Long travel time
The minister lamented that despite the construction of several flyovers in the last couple of years, the travel time between two points has hardly been reduced. "Nine years ago, it used to take me 45 minutes to reach the Delhi Secretariat at ITO from my residence at Paschim Vihar. Even today, the travel time remains the same," Chauhan said.
Rs 10 crore
The sum traffic jams cost Delhiites
Rs 1.5 crore
The sum traffic jams cost the
government exchequer
2.5 litre
The amount of fuel four-wheelers lose every day in snarls
20 lakh
The number of vehicles plying on Delhi's roads on any given day
Bad roads
Commuters get stranded in long traffic jams because ofu00a0 potholes in the middle of roads and uneven stretches.
>>In May, the Delhi High Court directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to improve the quality of roads before the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the city.
>>The court directed the MCD to prepare a time-bound schedule to ensure these roads were constructed as per international standards and properly maintained and whenever any repair was required the same must be carried out within the fastest possible time.
>>The court also suggested to the MCD to have an emergency mobile staff to carry out immediate repair to roads.
Controversial BRT
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor in Delhi has been blamed for adversely affecting the flow of traffic.
>>The Bus Rapid Transit Corridor in south Delhi has claimed five lives and left 31 injured this year but Delhi Police say the accidents on the controversial stretch have come down compared to last year.
>>According to Delhi Police statistics, there were a total of 70 accidents on the BRT corridor last year while the figure was 25 till June 15 this year. Out of the 25 accidents, five were fatal.
>>In 2008, out of 70 cases, 15 were fatal accidents in which 15 people were killed and 71 injured.
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