Archive for November, 2006
November 30th, 2006
New Delhi, November 30: Capital roads will have new streetlights, all uniform, before the Commonwealth Games 2010.
This move came in wake of Delhi Government decision to have uniform street furniture across Delhi and streetlight masterplan. The Public Works Deparment (PWD) which has its jurisdiction over 240 Kms in the city will spend over Rs 121 crore to install new street lights, which will be of 50 lux level. “Tenders will shortly be floated,’’ said Dr AK Walia, PWD and Finance Minister.
Transco officials had earlier said that new street lights will entail integrated architectural street lighting along with energy-saving options.
An expert committee was constituted for formulating the plan and it studied samples of various roads in Delhi, firmed up its recommendations and prepared the standard for world-class lighting for major roads of Delhi. For lighting purpose, roads have been classified into three categories — A1, A2 and A3 — and luminance criteria based on peak and off-peak traffic conditions have been prepared.
In the First phase, the PWD, apart from including the majority of city roads under its jurisdiction, will also include NH 1, 2 and 8 for uniform street lights, Walia said.
The lights will be fixed in the central verge and provide for dual bulbs to light up both sides of the road. The other phases — taking up parts of the roads — will be executed by the transport department, which is constructing 83 Kms of High Capacity Bus system, while DMRC will provide streetlights for remaining 89 kilometers.
The experts has earlier said that that there was a low level of lighting on all roads while the energy consumption was high. There was no proper monitoring of streetlights and the equipment used did not meet international specifications and there was no standardisation.
Source:http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=211501
November 30th, 2006
NEW DELHI: Despite umpteen number of incidents involving the “unsafe vans'’ ferrying school children, often leading to fatal accidents, the State Transport Department has failed to come out with any kind of effective and standardised safety norms for plying of such dangerous vehicles on the road putting at peril the lives of thousands of children everyday.
This Monday’s accident at Kehsavpuram in North-West Delhi, where a “unlicensed van” ferrying school children was involved in a gruesome accident with a call centre vehicle, has once again brought into focus the failure of the authorities to take preventive measures and save precious lives. What is even worse is that despite repeated incidents involving school children and these illegal vans on the city roads, the Government is yet to wake up from its slumber and put in place a policy for plying of such vehicles especially those ferrying these children.
“It has been almost two years now that a decision was taken to put in place a policy for plying of such vans which do not have any license or qualify under safety norms. These vehicles are not fit to ply on the roads and ferry children even under the present outdated Motor Vehicles Act, but the Transport Department continues to look the other way giving enough indications of corruption playing a big role in the whole game,'’ a senior Transport Department official remarked.
Officials said a number of meetings have been held during the last two years to finalise the norms for plying of such vehicles but things have remained inconclusive as both the political leadership and the administrative set-up have shown little interest in working out a solution.
“It is such an unfortunate situation that the Department has failed to finalise a policy despite passage of two years showing how concerned the Government was about the welfare of the school students. These vans ferrying children are fitted with CNG and LPG kits that have not passed the safety standards test. They are all retrofitted second hand kits and unsafe. Anything can happen and we could have another Wazirabad like incident where 30 children died after a school bus fell into the Yamuna in 1997,” Anil Sood of Chetna, a non-government organisation working in the transport sector remarked.
Equally to be blamed for this mess is the traffic police and the Education Department which are not coming down heavily on the schools for allowing children to be transported in such an unsafe manner.
Source:http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/30/stories/2006113011370400.htm
November 30th, 2006
HYDERABAD: The traffic police have defended the heavy fines being imposed on motorists for violating rules like talking on mobile phones while driving, fancy number plates and the likes in the twin cities.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) A.K. Khan told presspersons on Wednesday after a coordination meeting with MCH Commissioner Sanjay Jaju that only a heavy fine would act as a deterrent as violators were absolutely nonchalant about paying simple fines.
He also said that the police would come down heavily on illegal parking on the roadsides.
He also appealed to the people to avoid taking the Begumpet road till the construction of the two flyovers was complete.
Source:http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/30/stories/2006113015840300.htm
November 28th, 2006
NEW DELHI: In another step aimed at decongesting Ring Road and ensuring smooth flow of traffic, the Delhi Cabinet on Monday gave the green signal for construction of a flyover at Nariana T-junction with special features including escalator-powered foot over bridge.
The approval was given at a meeting held under the leadership of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here. Giving this information, Finance and PWD Minister A.K. Walia informed that a new flyover at Naraina T-Junction on Ring Road with an estimated cost of Rs.120 crores would be commissioned by 2008 well before commencement of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
This would go a long way in making the entire stretch along Ring Road from Shalimar Bagh to Mool Chand flyover signal free.
“The new flyover would facilitate smooth flow for vehicular traffic through Naraina village, which will have a bearing on saving fuel and avoid pollution,” he added.
Dr. Walia further informed that special features of Naraina flyover includes a five-metre wide pedestrian sub-way between Ring Road and Loha Mandi, an 7.5 metre underpass towards Mayapuri side, foot over bridge with escalators, bus bays, overhead signages, water harvesting, provision of noise and dust barriers, provision of horticulture and landscaping for proper beautification and adequate illumination by providing high mast lighting system.
In another development, the Delhi Government is on the verge of finalising two flyovers on Bahadhur Shah Zafar Marg and ITO crossing to decongest the entry and exit of traffic from this congested corridor towards East Delhi and South Delhi.
Dr. Walia informed that a formal presentation on the two projects would be made on November 29 along with that for construction of a tunnel linking East Delhi Ring Road from Old Railway Bridge to ISBT at Kashmere Gate.
Dr. Walia said two clover leafs are being constructed at the Vikas Minar flyover to smoothen the flow of traffic.
Source:http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/28/stories/2006112813390400.htm
November 27th, 2006
Travellers between Gurgaon and Delhi are subjected to misery at IFFCO Chowk in Gurgaon every day.
A flyover is under construction at IFFCO Chowk. Apparently there has been a delay in its completion for various reasons. But the point is that the delay in construction need not lead to a traffic chaos daily at the Chowk.
As things are, anyone coming to Gurgaon through Mehrauli Road is compelled to take a left turn, travel 3 km, take a U-turn, and again travel 3 km before being allowed entry into Gurgaon.
Imagine thousands of vehicles doing this on the highway every day for the past six months! What a waste of precious time, fuel and resources!
With a little imagination this 3-km up-and-down drive could be reduced to half a km. The Delhi Metro railway authorities would have done it. Why can’t the authorities in Gurgaon (including the flyover contractor) do it? Is it lack of sensitivity to the sufferings of thousands of citizens?
Source:http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/27/stories/2006112713820300.htm
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