Why hold CWG if you can’t manage roads?
Traffic jams in Delhi have peaked like the fog. It’s like a monster you can’t get past; a drill you wish you were never made to take; a nightmare that has jumped out of office hour restrictions to become an all-day stresspot.
Go anywhere, even to your local market, and it takes more than double the time it used to. There is no parking space, the horns keep blaring, the anger spills out of cars and it is a general mess that makes you feel like running away into those motor-less days of yore.
Delhi has always been crying about more cars on its roads than it can handle. Hence came the Metro. Now the situation is that the Metro is spilling over as much, even more, than the roads. In short, there is no escaping the jams, the sea of people, the bursting buses and the exploding trains.
In such a scenario, the Government — totally in a Commonwealth Games state of mind — goes ahead and closes the arterial areas of Connaught Place. The result? Even more of a mess, aided and abetted by the Auto Expo. One and a half hour to home has lengthened to anywhere between 2 and 3 hours.
This brings us to the inevitable question: Why was it so necessary to hold CWG at all? We are struggling with the infrastructure; with rising costs; with team boycotts (already Australia, England and Bolt have said they are not coming even as Kalmadi keeps denying the inevitable) and we are giving Delhi’s residents the hardest time ever on the roads.
Come to think of it, the 2010 nightmare has just begun and by the time it peaks many would have gone nuts merely trying to reach office! It’s not just the CWG, the Hockey World Cup too is coming to Delhi this year.
And if talk is to be believed, there would be dedicated lanes for the sportspersons during the CWG, as also draconian traffic diversions in the call of security and free passage for the guests.
That will be then. As of now, the Government should feel obliged to think about its populace which is reeling under unprecedented construction problems all over the Capital, added to which is the CP shocker.
Just the other day, a colleague took one-and-a-half hours to reach Gol Market from ITO which is just 15 minutes on a usual traffic day. And the situation is hardly about to improve, what with parts of the CP Outer Circle being closed to traffic due to subway construction.
One wonders if any agency has attempted a survey of the impact of all this frenetic construction and resultant traffic jams on the minds of the harassed Delhi’ites. If it is found out, one is sure to get monstrous figures of road rage, accidents, mandays lost, stress levels and also lunacy.
Simply put, it’s a crime against the common man that any Government ignores all this chaos and goes ahead in the race to show up India as a future venue for big events.
No one is against portraying the pride of the nation outside of it. But why should such effort always be at the expense of the general public? All infrastructural projects should carry a blueprint on how the project will least disturb public life and it is on such strict norms that the Government should allow construction on its roads.
Talking of Delhi, one has to say though that despite the chaos, it is still better on its roads than other expanding metros.
A recent visit of Hyderabad showed how much better traffic still is in Delhi. Hyderabad just refuses to move at any corner of the town at any time. Its buses are yet to come on CNG and its trucks have no time zones.
Mumbai is a story told often. There, nothing moves either but people have gotten used to it. Delhi is a bad story too but not so bad, at least it was not so till CP got closed.
Hope somewhere, someone who can make a difference is reading.
Go anywhere, even to your local market, and it takes more than double the time it used to. There is no parking space, the horns keep blaring, the anger spills out of cars and it is a general mess that makes you feel like running away into those motor-less days of yore.
Delhi has always been crying about more cars on its roads than it can handle. Hence came the Metro. Now the situation is that the Metro is spilling over as much, even more, than the roads. In short, there is no escaping the jams, the sea of people, the bursting buses and the exploding trains.
In such a scenario, the Government — totally in a Commonwealth Games state of mind — goes ahead and closes the arterial areas of Connaught Place. The result? Even more of a mess, aided and abetted by the Auto Expo. One and a half hour to home has lengthened to anywhere between 2 and 3 hours.
This brings us to the inevitable question: Why was it so necessary to hold CWG at all? We are struggling with the infrastructure; with rising costs; with team boycotts (already Australia, England and Bolt have said they are not coming even as Kalmadi keeps denying the inevitable) and we are giving Delhi’s residents the hardest time ever on the roads.
Come to think of it, the 2010 nightmare has just begun and by the time it peaks many would have gone nuts merely trying to reach office! It’s not just the CWG, the Hockey World Cup too is coming to Delhi this year.
And if talk is to be believed, there would be dedicated lanes for the sportspersons during the CWG, as also draconian traffic diversions in the call of security and free passage for the guests.
That will be then. As of now, the Government should feel obliged to think about its populace which is reeling under unprecedented construction problems all over the Capital, added to which is the CP shocker.
Just the other day, a colleague took one-and-a-half hours to reach Gol Market from ITO which is just 15 minutes on a usual traffic day. And the situation is hardly about to improve, what with parts of the CP Outer Circle being closed to traffic due to subway construction.
One wonders if any agency has attempted a survey of the impact of all this frenetic construction and resultant traffic jams on the minds of the harassed Delhi’ites. If it is found out, one is sure to get monstrous figures of road rage, accidents, mandays lost, stress levels and also lunacy.
Simply put, it’s a crime against the common man that any Government ignores all this chaos and goes ahead in the race to show up India as a future venue for big events.
No one is against portraying the pride of the nation outside of it. But why should such effort always be at the expense of the general public? All infrastructural projects should carry a blueprint on how the project will least disturb public life and it is on such strict norms that the Government should allow construction on its roads.
Talking of Delhi, one has to say though that despite the chaos, it is still better on its roads than other expanding metros.
A recent visit of Hyderabad showed how much better traffic still is in Delhi. Hyderabad just refuses to move at any corner of the town at any time. Its buses are yet to come on CNG and its trucks have no time zones.
Mumbai is a story told often. There, nothing moves either but people have gotten used to it. Delhi is a bad story too but not so bad, at least it was not so till CP got closed.
Hope somewhere, someone who can make a difference is reading.
Published January 10, 2010, Sunday Pioneer; http://www.dailypioneer.com/228143/Why-hold-CWG-if-you-can’t-manage-roads.html
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