Putting Delhi’s decongestion plan on the fast track, the Centre on Monday sanctioned Rs658 crore for five projects, including a skywalk and Foot Over-Bridge (FOB) near ITO for the safety of pedestrians going to offices located in and around one of the busiest centres in the Capital; a flyover and an underpass connecting Mahipalpur, Aerocity, Airport and NH-8; and a flyover-cum-road over-bridge near Narela for providing direct access from NH-1 to Bawana Industrial Complex.
Widening of the road near Kashmiri Gate and Nigam Bodh Ghat and construction of a 1.6-km-long Grade separator at Rani Jhansi Road are also among the projects that have got the fund.
Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu announced that Rs658 crore has been sanctioned from the Urban Development Fund for these five projects which will ease mobility in Delhi. “The source of the Urban Development Fund is one-time charges for conversion from leasehold to freehold in properties leased by DDA,” Naidu told reporters here.
A high-powered committee on ‘Decongestion of Traffic in Delhi’ set up by Naidu had come out with a 126-page report whose findings were released last month. The panel outlined a Rs 20,000-crore plan stressing on improving public transport - particularly buses - to wean people away from owning cars.
Headed by Urban Development Secretary Rajiv Gauba, the committee noted that 21 per cent of the city’s space is already under roads with limited scope for road network expansion. About 60 per cent of passenger trips are below four kilometre distances and 80 per cent below six kilometre lengths, which are ideal for non-motorised transport.
It recommended development of necessary infrastructure for promoting walking and cycling in the National Capital. It opined that automobile-centric planning with focus on road widening, construction of more and more flyovers, foot-over-bridges and under passes have only promoted increased use of private vehicles, which are meeting only less than 20 per cent of transport needs and should not be encouraged unless warranted by natural barriers like rivers.
The committee also expressed serious concern over mushrooming of gated communities in the city, which are compelling local traffic to come onto main roads by preventing short cuts for movement of people.
The panel called for various interventions over the next five years to enable 80 per cent share for public transport and non-motorised trips in total transportation in the city where in the total passenger trips are estimated to increase to 280 lakh per day in 2021 from a mere 45 lakh trips in 1981 and 144 lakh trips in 2008.
