Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has created one problem while trying to solve another. For the last 20 days, the corporation has been desilting the city drains. It had heaped the extracted material on the edge of these drains. However, with the monsoon setting in, the sludge is bound to be washed back into the drains. After a stormy council meeting on desiltation of the internal drains in the last week of May, the BMC authorities had decided that by June 15 the drains would be made ready to face the monsoon rains.

However, with the silt from the drains still lying on the roadsides, the drains will again be choked in most of the areas. “This year the desiltation work started very seriously at the beginning. But, in most of the areas, the work never got over on time. While most of the desilted drains will be refilled with the soil and garbage recovered from the nearby drains, the civic authorities will have more problem to collect the silt again and transport them to the dumping ground,” said Mrutyunjay Tripathy, a resident of Ganganagar area.

But, in some areas, including ward No. 45, extracted materials have been removed. “All the dumped materials near the main road were lifted. In some parts, however, some garbage was still dumped for inspection of the municipal commissioner and city health officer. Now, almost all silt from the roadsides in our ward have been lifted,” said councillor Pranab Kishore Swain. But the situation is different on the Delta Square-Jagamara Road. Here, heaps of silt recovered from the nearby stormwater drain have been lying for days in front of the shops. Apart from the shopkeepers, local residents are suffering badly due to this. This is also causing traffic congestions on the road.

“The civic authorities have set a bad precedence this year by causing difficulties for the public while dumping the silt on the road itself. But, according to the Municipal Corporation Act, 2003, it is punishable to dump garbage on roads,” said Samir Kumar Jena, a resident of Baramunda village. City health officer Ashok Kumar Panda, however, blamed the Raja festival for the delay in the BMC plan.

“We could not get labourers during the festive season. As it is the biggest festival of the state, workers tend to go to their villages and return after a day or two. We have already issued instructions. Once the labourers are available, we will lift the heaps of silt and garbage from the roadsides,” said Panda. The Telegraph had carried a report on May 24 regarding a desiltation exercise before the onset of the monsoon as the Indian Meteorological Department had predicted June 10 as the date for arrival of monsoon clouds in the city. After that, the councillors took up the matter at the council meeting.

Speaking to the The Telegraph, city engineer T.B.K. Shroff had said on May 23: “There is no fixed rule to finish the desiltation activity in the smaller drains one month prior to the arrival of the monsoon clouds. But, the desiltation works will be definitely over by June 15.”

Ward Nos. 10, 19, 21, 39, 40 and 49 are facing acute crisis due to the dumped silts on roadsides. After the incessant rain since last evening, people staying in areas such as Rental Colony, Nayapalli, Bomikhal, Jayadurga Nagar, Sarala Nag ar, Refugee Colony, Laxmisagar, Jharpada, Buddheswari Colony, Laxmisagar Brit Colo ny, Chintamaniswar temple area, Sabar Sahi, Kalpana Fla ts and BJB Nagar ‘A’ type flat areas, are facing problems from dumped silts due to the negligence of the BMC.

“The ministry of I&B has already written letters to chief secretaries of all states including Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal advising cinema halls to show road safety films before screening commercial films. The ministry has also asked the states to display hoardings on road safety rules, do’s and don’ts at important locations, preferably in government buildings, railway stations, bus stations and airports,” says KK Kapila, Chairman, International Road Federation (IRF) in a press release.

“Ministry of Road Transport & Highways in association with IRF has launched a national campaign for reduction of road accidents in the country as about 1.25 lakh deaths take place per annum due to road mishaps. As part of the campaign, IRF has made two films of three minutes each on road safety titled ‘Afsos’ and ‘Ehasas’. These will be released to all the cinema halls in Delhi and other states and cinemas will air them before the any commercial movie,” he adds. While Ehasas is a short film on drunken driving, Afsos is on the Supreme Court’s judgment to quickly shift the accident victims to a hospital by anyone without any fear of police harassment.

Express News Service Posted: Jun 18, 2010 at 0352 hrs

“We are going to come out with complete Road Safety Action Plan, provide about Rs 250 crore per year for road safety measures,” Road Secretary Brahm Dutt told PTI.

The development succeeds the bill for creation of National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board, which was introduced in Lok Sabha last month with the mandate to conduct regular safety audits of national highways and establish collection, transmission and analysis of road accident data.

India has highest number of road accidents in the world with more than one lakh people falling victims to road accidents every year. Official figures state as many as 1.37 lakh people were killed in road accidents in 2008.
Source: (PTI)

As rain water flooded the tracks, local trains, the lifeline of Mumbai, plied 10 to 30 minutes behind schedule, officials said.

According to an IMD official, Colaba in south Mumbai received 78 mm of rainfall and Santacruz about 95 mm, flooding scores of streets.

Traffic had to be diverted at Parel and Dadar in south-central Mumbai and Khar, Santacruz, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Malad, Kandivli and Borivli in the western suburbs of the city.

Air traffic was also hit, with most flights delayed by 35-40 minutes.

“Heavy rains, strong winds of between 15-20 knots and fluctuating visibility have impacted operations,” an airport official said.

Drains in several low-lying areas of Mumbai got choked, forcing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to press workers and pumps to clear rainwater from several roads.

“We have deployed 200 pumps,” said BMC Commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya.

Early Wednesday, eight people were crushed to death in sleep when a wall collapsed in Dyaneshwar Nagar area in Thane.

A high alert has been sounded in the low-lying areas of Mumbai. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea till Thursday in view of high tides measuring about 4.70 meters.

With pressure mounting from developers who had purchased land in the new sectors adjoining the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR), the Haryana government has decided to award parts of the work to two real estate majors who have upcoming projects along the route.

While the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has awarded work on a 1.3-km stretch of the 5.2-km road to Unitech Ltd, another 2 km has been given to DLF Ltd. The remaining part of the 90-metre-wide corridor will be awarded, after tendering, to anyone willing to take the project at the price offered six months ago.

Meanwhile, HUDA has written to the government for sanctioning Rs 132 crore to begin work on a 12.5-km stretch of the 18.5-km, 150-metre-wide Northern Peripheral Road (NPR). About 3.5 km of the NPR is under litigation, while another 2 km is in fragments and cannot be built unless the stay orders are vacated.

HUDA, which has floated tenders inviting international consultants for designing these two roads, is also in consultation with officials and experts in New Delhi who have designed various Commonwealth Games projects. “If all goes as per plan, we will float tenders for the NPR by mid-July,” said Pankaj Kumar, Superintending Engineer, HUDA.

The two four-lane corridors will also have 30 metres of green belt on both sides, separate lanes for slow and fast moving traffic, slots for a Metro line and public utilities as well as scope for future expansion.

“Land acquisition for the road is on priority so that developers can benefit from the good connectivity,” explained Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria. The NPR has five bridges, including a railway overbridge at Garhi Harsaru, for which tenders will be floated separately, he added.

The roads are an important part of the Gurgaon-Manesar Masterplan 2021. Along with the Kundali-Manesar-Palwal Expressway, the aim is to take away 40 per cent of traffic on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway by providing a shorter alternative. Work on the NPR has been inordinately delayed since several residents of Daulatabad and New Palam Vihar, whose houses were to be demolished, moved court. A final order is still awaited.

The two roads: NORTHERN PERIPHERAL ROAD:The 18.5-km NPR will connect Dwarka and National Highway 8.

The road will start from Dwarka, connect Palam Vihar and the upcoming big SEZs in Gurgaon to join the NH-8 near Kherki Dhaula.

SOUTHERN PERIPHERAL ROAD:The SPR will connect Badshahpur Chowk to Kherki Daula on NH-8.

Source: Express India, 16th June, 2010