Cabinet clears nodal body on traffic control

Tuesday , Apr 13, 2010

    
Delhi Police initially left out of new panel; govt admits slip-up, says 'clerical error'

The Delhi Cabinet on Monday brought into force a nodal body that will now call the shots on all decisions taken on Delhi's transport, road and traffic concerns.

The new formation, called the Delhi Urban Mass Transit Authority or DUMTA, has an ambitious 'to do' list. It will prepare a masterplan for the development and management of public and mass transit infrastructure. It also hopes to make public transport the first choice of people and enforce an integrated fare mechanism across all modes of transport.

The agency will position the taxi as a high-end service and will be in-charge of all policies and regulations, including those on parking, road safety and on traffic infrastructure based on advanced technology — like the video-based intersection management.

The DUMTA Bill, 2010, which the Cabinet cleared on Monday, also lays down the composition of this authority. It will have 11 members representing all civic agencies in the Capital. The body's chairperson will be the chief minister.

Surprisingly, however, the first DUMTA team has no representative from a strong player in the traffic business — the Delhi Police or the Delhi Traffic Police, the executive agency responsible for implementing all traffic rules in the Capital.

Though the government later switched onto fire-fighting gear, and dismissed the 'omission' as a "clerical error", sources said there could have been good reason in keeping the police out.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has for long demanded partial control of the traffic police, her rationale being the 'lack' of coordination between the Transport department, the traffic police and other civic agencies.

Reacting to her demands, Home Minister P Chidambaram had asked the government to form an authority to handle all transport-related issues. And therefore, the DUMTA.

But Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta was vehement in the government's defence. "The mistake was noticed by the chief minister during the Cabinet meeting. It was an inordinate error by the Transport department and has been corrected."

It is not clear though whether the list of DUMTA members will increase to accommodate the Delhi Police or whether one of the existing members will be dropped.

Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely too dismissed it as a "clerical omission that had been corrected". "The special commissioner (Traffic) will be on the team," he said.

The Traffic Police chose not to react. Special Commissioner Ajay Chadha said: "We shall react when we get to know about the decision officially."

According to the Bill presented before the Cabinet on Monday, the 11 DUMTA members are the chief minister as chairperson, the Transport minister, the chief secretary, the managing directors of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and the Delhi Transport Corporation, the chairperson of NDMC, the commissioner of the municipal corporation, the commissioner (Planning) of the Delhi Development Authority, the principal secretary of the Urban Development ministry and two experts in urban transportation.

The principal secretary, Transport, will be the member secretary of DUMTA.

Original news source http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cabinet-clears-nodal-body-on-traffic-control/605510/0