The State capital is in need of adequate public transportation and proper road management practices. To tackle this problem with permanent solution as many as 64 staffs of State Urban Development department were trained by officials of Ministry of Urban Development on preparing a Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) study, which will help the State Government in analysing the type of public transport required for the 621 kilometres road of the city.
“Eighty per cent population of Ranchi uses two wheeler vehicles since there is shortage of public transportation across the city. Only 21 per cent of roads here have footpaths. There are not enough cycle stands and zebra crossing in the state,” said KP Subramanian, faculty at Institute of Urban Transport at Ministry of Urban Development at the valedictory session of four day Ninth Capacity Building Programme on Sustainable Urban Transport in the state capital on Friday. Government sources present in this meeting said that though the State Government has introduced non-motorised transport vehicle like battery operated rickshaw but there are not much public vehicles for the specially-abled people.
A State Government official on the condition of anonymity said, “State Urban Development Principal Secretary Ajay Kumar has urged all the participants from 39 urban bodies of the State to prepare the CMP. This will help the Government in constructing roads with facilities including zebra crossing, cycle stands, footpaths and space for plantation. Once the CMP study is done, the state government will easily be able to identify the type of public transportation suitable for the denizens of Ranchi.”
“Bus is required for a population of 4000 people commuting on the road everyday. For a population of 10,000 Mono rail is required. Similarly, metro rail is required for a population of 20,000. This CMP will help us in identifying the exact public transportation in connection with Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). Most of the states of India have prepared their CMP but Jharkhand is yet to prepare the same,” participants in this programme said. Accepting the mentioned need, Ajay Kumar said that the CMP will benefit in understanding the public transportation needs of cities comprising a population of over one lakh in Jharkhand.