Centre identifies 44 points to unclog city

The Union ministry of urban development has identified 44 choke points on the roads of Delhi that have seen an exponential increase in private vehicles in the past decades.

A high-power committee of the ministry constituted in October 2014 has recently suggested measures to decongest Delhi. As per the committee’s report, interventions such as shifting of bus stand near Hauz Khas Metro station, widening of the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road and removing of encroachment in Chandni Chowk have been suggested to ease congestion.

“Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021 notes that the period between 1981 and 2001 and subsequently 2011 has seen phenomenal incr-ease in the growth of vehicles and traffic in Delhi. There has been a rise in per capita trip rate (excludi-ng walk trips) from 0.72 in 1981 to 0.87 in 2001 and exponential more in 2011.

“It’s a business-as-usual scenario, it estimated that the total trips would rise to 280 lakh by the year 2021, including 257 lakh motori-sed trips and 23 lakh non-motorised trips,” the panel chaired by the secretary, urban development, said.

The report, which is based on inputs from various Central and state government agencies, has identified 16 congestion points in south/ southeast Delhi, seven in central/ New Delhi, six in west/ southwest Delhi, five in east/ northeast Delhi and 10 in north/ northwest/ Outer Delhi area.

In southern part of the city, decongestion plan for C.V. Raman Marg has been suggested to ease traffic flow on the Ashram Chowk and Maharani Bagh stretch. Multi-model integration has been recommended for Saket Metro Station. It includes measures such as acquiring of space for gramin seva, designating drop-off points for private vehicles and shifting of bus stand near the station.

ITO crossing, Saorjni Nagar Market and Karol Bagh Market area are the major focus areas in the Delhi’s central region. The committee has recommended construction of by-pass roads and two tunnels to declog the ITO crossing A-point. A policy for use of multi-level parking has been suggested for Sarojini Nagar Market and creation of a multi-level parking and effective policy for surface parking has been suggested for Karol Bagh Market area.

The vehicular population in the Capital is 8.29 million, as per the Delhi Statistical Handbook, 2014. “Despite measures by way of increasing the length of the road network and road surface space through widening, construction of a number of flyovers/gra-de separators and launching of the Metro, the traffic congestion has continued to increase unabated,” the ministry report, released in June 2016, says.

For the capital’s northern region, removal of encroachment in Chandni Chowk, Azadpur Mandi area are key suggestions. Several remedial measures have suggested for the congestion prone Mayur Vihar Metro station and Akshardham in East Del-hi. The suggestions inclu-de relocation of Akshardh-am bus stand and broadening of narrow bridge betw-een Noida Link Road and Khudee Ram Boss Marg and utilisation of vacant space of Mayur Vihar station for parking or halting.

In West Delhi, operationalisation of Bijwasan flyover has been suggested for the Underpass Dwarka Link Road.