Despite Western and Eastern Peripheral Expressways to reduce traffic congestion in Delhi, there is to-and-fro movement of more than 12 lakh vehicles everyday from neighbouring States of Delhi.
Of them, less than one fourth of the total vehicular movement is attributed to the freight vehicles. The volume of both personal and freight vehicles is gradually increasing. As per the study conducted by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) namely “Megacity Logistics: Metrics, Tools And Measures For Sustainability”, the number of vehicles entering to Delhi rose from 6,13,797 to 6,19,946 everyday. The respective figures for the year 2009, were 4,72,852 and 5,50,841.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on “the management of worsening traffic situation in Delhi”, expressed concern as there is no planning to regulate or restrict the vehicular movement from the neighbouring States when the roads of the city are already reeling under heavy stress because of traffic congestion and other related issues.
The Committee also expressed its strong displeasure on the fact that freight management plan for Delhi has not been formulated till now. The committee was informed by the representative of the CRRI that the road traffic demand has increased exceptionally and is not in keeping with the growth in the supply side factors such as increase in road network and upgradation of road infrastructure.
The Committee observed that freight traffic on Delhi roads contribute more than 18 per cent of the total vehicular volume on Delhi Roads. The committee, therefore, strongly recommended that after due study and assessment of management of freight traffic in other major cities, Government of Delhi along with other agencies should formulate a suitable plan for the freight traffic management in Delhi and NCR and this must be done keeping in mind the fact that least burden is felt during peak hours.
The committee therefore, recommended that infrastructure of suitable nature to commute, transport and dedicated places for boarding and de-boarding of freight materials needs to be earmarked on a priority basis and the timing of freight movement should be regulated/fixed keeping in mind the material being carried by it like whether it is perishable item like food or vegetables or building materials, etc,.
As per the data, there has been an average growth of 3 per cent in overall vehicular movement on the roads of Delhi in the last decade. Also, during the year 2018, 21.35 per cent of the freight vehicles entering Delhi used the roads of Delhi just to bypass Delhi and there was no plan as of now to regulate or restrict the to and fro vehicular movement from the neighbouring States to Delhi.
Therefore, the Committee also recommended that there was an urgent need to formulate plan/policy to regulate the entry of the inbound traffic and ensure smooth exit of the outbound traffic by diverting the vehicles using Delhi roads only for bypassing via peripheral and ring roads.
“Recurrence of extreme congestion on the Delhi roads has become a common phenomenon and has hampered the quality of life of all. The average speeds have been reduced to 5 to 10 km/hr during peak hours even on the major arterial roads of the city leading to the loss of time of the working population, fuel wastage and environmental pollution,” it said.
Furthermore, the problem of traffic congestion has been aggravated by the rapidly increasing population of Delhi, geographical expansion of Delhi, inadequate expansion of public transport, improper parking on roads and lack of a central coordination mechanism for formulation and implementation of traffic management policies in Delhi.
According to the committee, the national Capital is dominated by private vehicles, especially two wheelers and cars which together constitute around 94.1 per cent of the total registered vehicles. On an average, more than 1,700 new motor vehicles (about 550 cars and 1,150 two wheelers) are getting added on to the Delhi roads everyday.
“This excludes the vehicles getting registered in the National Capital Region (NCR) that ply on the Delhi road network on a daily basis.
Vehicle population growth in Delhi has sharply increased registering an average annual rate of 7.40 per cent in the case of private vehicles and 9.15 percent in the case of commercial vehicles (GNCTD, 2014). On the contrary, Buses, Taxis and Three Seater Rickshaw (TSR) i.e. autorickshaws only constitute about 0.35 per cent , 1.40 per cent and 1.68 per cent , respectively of the 11.204 million registered vehicles.