Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Taking picture of vehicle must before towing

Thursday, April 07, 2011




After getting many complaints against cops demanding bribes with threats of towing away vehicles , Delhi Traffic Police have asked all contractors who provide cranes to the department to come equipped with a digital camera. 

"Starting Friday, it will become mandatory for traffic personnel to take a picture of the vehicle errantly parked before attempting to tow it away. Towing a vehicle without taking a picture will be illegal. This will not just ensure that no bribes are taken by the traffic cops, but also help in keeping proof of the errant vehicle, if required," explained joint commissioner of police (traffic) Satyendra Garg. 

In a new order issued to the dozen-odd private contractors who supply the 58 cranes to Delhi Traffic Police, both the contractor as well as the traffic personnel will become liable if they attempt to tow a vehicle without taking a picture of the vehicle first. Each of the contractors signed the new contract on Monday. 

"It has been found that traffic constables demand bribe in exchange of not towing away an errantly parked vehicle or threaten to tow away a vehicle if not given a bribe even if the vehicle is not flouting any norms. The new order should be able to curb the problem," explained a senior traffic police officer. 

The move comes after a traffic constable Sukhram, posted in East of Kailash area, was caught red-handed taking a bribe after a Facebook user tipped off senior traffic officials of the incident. 

The traffic cop was spotted taking a bribe from a building contractor to stop the towing of a cement mixer in East of Kailash by a citizen who posted the same on the Delhi Traffic Police Facebook page. The corrupt cop was caught red-handed with the bribe of Rs 1000. Cops said the bribe had been recovered and departmental action has been initiated against the corrupt cop and two of his superiors. "While Sukhram was placed under suspension, action was initiated action against the ZO and TI for allowing cement mixers to be there during no-entry timings and not ensuring that cranes work for the right purpose ," explained JCP Garg.


Posted by Rajeev Lochan Sharma at 10:13 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Rlys seek MCD help to decongest station

Wednesday, April 06, 2011




To Decongest the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station, the Railways have been trying to come up with a new entry point at the Sarai Kale Khan end. However, a parking lot run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is standing in the way.

In order to put its plan into action, the Railways have proposed that the MCD shift its parking lot to a nearby area, which is currently lying unutilised.

The entry from the ISBT side caters to approximately 50 per cent of the passengers coming to the station. To facilitate easy movement, the Railways are planning an additional platform, which will directly lead into the station premises.

Following an inspection of the Sarai Kale Khan entry of the Nizamuddin Railway Station along with MCD

Commissioner K S Mehra, Engineer-in-Chief Ravi Dass and Transport department Additional Commissioner J S Sandhu in February, Divisional Railway Manager Ashwani Lohani wrote to then Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta. "The entry area is a mess, and needs to be improved for the convenience of the travelling public. At present, there is a scooter parking area that is operated by the MCD on land belonging to the Transport department, adjoining the foot-overbridge landing. The Railways might want this piece of land to develop a proper entry gate, booking windows and passenger holding area for the convenience of the public. The existing parking can then be conveniently shifted to the adjoining vacant plot of land," Lohani wrote to Mehta on February 14.

A reminder on the issue was sent to the Chief Secretary on March 18, requesting that a meeting be called for resolving the issue. However, officials said there is no response yet, and with a new Chief Secretary stepping in, the matter is likely to see more delay.

Officials said the Transport department has informed the Railways that the proposal to redevelop the Sarai Kale Khan ISBT has been approved by the UTTIPEC, and tenders have also been floated.

"Since that project will take at least 24 months for completion, if the land at the existing parking is transferred by MCD to the Railways, we can develop this area for an entry to the Nizamuddin Railway station. The plan is to create a hub in this area connecting the railway station to the ISBT through a skywalk and walkator," said a senior Railways official.

A plot of 5,000 sq m has been identified near the transport authority office for relocating the parking lot.

"The approximate distance of this plot from the station is 150m, which can be linked through the means of a skywalk. Essential services such as washrooms, queuing area with additional booking and PRS counters and bigger waiting halls have been proposed under this skywalk," a senior official said.


Posted by Rajeev Lochan Sharma at 10:29 PM 0 comments

Illegal parking drive paying off for MCD

Wednesday, April 06, 2011




MCD's move to crack down on illegal parking seems to have paid off. The civic agency's revenue from parking has doubled in the past year. Though MCD has regularized 75 illegal parking sites in the past few months, MCD officials say that strict implementation of parking rules is the main reason for the increase in revenue. 

During 2009-10, MCD collected Rs 61.13 crore from parking sites, whose number doubled last year. Following that, MCD has collected Rs 122.08 crore from parking. "We have taken several measures to bring down the number of illegal parkings in the city. Last year, we had floated tenders for 225 parking sites, which were operating illegally. Of these, nearly 75 parking lots were regularized," said asenior MCD official. 

Another possible reason for the sharp increase in revenue from parking is strict enforcement of rules. To check parking of the vehicles beyond the permitted area by the parking contractors, the civic agency imposed the system of paying damage charges. "Contractors are supposed to pay 10 times the parking charges for extra vehicles in an authorized parking lot," said an MCD official.


Posted by Rajeev Lochan Sharma at 10:29 PM 0 comments

Head constables can't stop, fine commercial vehicles: New order

Tuesday, April 05, 2011




After enforcing road discipline among Delhiites, Delhi traffic police is now focusing on cleaning up its own department. To start with, traffic police have taken away the power from head constables to stop any commercial vehicle even if it violates traffic norms. This decision was taken after sev 

Several complaints of bribes being taken by head constables from commercial vehicles were received.Many of these complaints were also lodged on the social networking site Facebook.

Policemen accepting bribe from a commercial vehicle is a common sight at several intersections in the city including Punjabi Bagh circle, Azadpur Mandi and Badarpur border among other locations.

"There have been instances where traffic head constables stopped commercial vehicles for traffic violations and took bribe from them to let them off," said a senior traffic police officer.

Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic) on Tuesday issued the order in this respect.

He said: "No head constable or a constable, whether on motorcycle or at traffic intersections will stop any commercial vehicle for traffic violations. If they notice any violation, they can fill up the violation slip for the violation by the vehicle. Any violation of the order would invite serious disciplinary action," Garg said.

He clarified that only a zonal officer of the sub-inspector or inspector rank or an officer of the department can stop and prosecute a commercial vehicle.

A head constable can fine anybody for a violation that does not have a penalty of more than R100.

"Our motto is not depriving a head constable from policing rights but from getting bribe," he added.

Traffic department has a total of 1,338 head constables of who 600 are deployed in the chase-and-challan wing.

With this new order in force, traffic police has seized the right of head constables to even chase commercial vehicles and fine them.

Now the head constables' role will be restricted to penalising people for violations of stop line, red-light jumping, triple riding on two wheelers, driving two wheelers without helmets, improper parking and defective number plates of non-commercial vehicles among others.


Posted by Rajeev Lochan Sharma at 10:28 PM 0 comments

Driving sans licence can land you behind bars

Tuesday, April 05, 2011




In a bid to bring down road accidents, the Delhi Traffic Police have decided to put motorists caught without a valid licence behind bars. What's more, the police will move court to award jail custody to motorists, including parents of minors, who drive on city roads without valid papers. A 

 
round 100 people are caught driving without valid licence on the city roads every day, sources said.
"They contribute to road accidents to a large extent," said a senior officer of traffic police.

On Saturday, traffic police issued challans to 83 people for driving without licence.

Failing to cope with the problem of accidents by just slapping a fine of Rs500, the traffic police have decided to send them to jail.

According to Section 181 of Motor Vehicles Act, whoever drives without valid licence shall get imprisonment for up to three months or R500 or both.

This year till March 15, more than 5,500 people have been challaned for driving without licence. "We are approaching court to send drivers without licence to jail at least for a day to start with," said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic).


Posted by Rajeev Lochan Sharma at 12:48 PM 0 comments

NHAI asks Delhi govt to take over RTR-DK stretch

Monday, April 04, 2011




The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has requested the Delhi government to take over the stretch between RTR Crossing and Dhaula Kuan. For the past four years, the NHAI had been looking at various options, including building flyovers, to bypass the three traffic signals over the stretch. However, it has now abandoned the endeavour.

This means that commuters using this stretch will have to live with the daily snarls for some more years. A senior NHAI official said that they had written to the Delhi chief secretary a fortnight ago about the handover of the road. He added that the NHAI had appointed a consultant and was planning to clear the mess since the traffic jam was spilling over to the main expressway during peak hours.

Because of the poor distribution and disbursement of traffic at all the three intersections between RTR flyover and Dhaula Kuan, the vehicles pile up back on to the main flyover. During evening peak hours, crossing this small stretch takes at least 20 minutes. "The comfort of using the expressway ends as soon as you get off the main highway," said Bhawani Tripathi, a daily commuter.

NHAI officials said considering this ordeal of commuters they had engaged the consultant. "However, the unified body set up for approving all road and transport projects in Delhi, UTTIPEC, did not clear the plan. So, we carried out beautification on this stretch before the Commonwealth Games," one of them said.

He added that since the study report is with the NHAI, they would pass it on to Delhi government for reference or use. PWD, which will now take over the stretch, will hire RITES to carry out a feasibility study of the entire area that will include Dhaula Kuan, RTR and a part of Aurobindo Marg joining Outer Ring Road to manage the traffic mess.

"This is being done to find a comprehensive solution. The traffic flow on stretch has serious implications on the other points. The holistic study will help us for long-term plans," said PWD engineer-in-chief Rakesh Mishra.

For the past four years, NHAI had been looking at various options, including building flyovers, to bypass the three traffic signals over the stretch. It has now abandoned the endeavour.


Posted by Rajeev Lochan Sharma at 12:47 PM 0 comments

Thursday, March 31, 2011

CWG parking lot will now be a shelter for cluster buses

Thursday, March 31, 2011




Transport dept acts after Shunglu Committee report questions future use of Games projects

Finally moving forward on the Sunehri and Kushak Nallah parking lot, the government has decided that the Transport department will use it for cluster bus parking and will also pay the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) an annual rental. In a high-level meeting held on Tuesday, it was decided that the lot will be handed over to the Transport department for parking cluster buses.

The decision comes days after the Shunglu Committee report questioned the legacy value of several Commonwealth Games projects. The Shunglu Committee had noted that "legacy use was unclear during the project execution and even after project completion".

The government has now gone on an overdrive to tie up the loose ends before it publishes its final report.

The decision to construct the parking lot over the Sunehri and Kushak Nallahs was conceptualised in June 2008. The project was executed at the cost of Rs 321 crore. The lot has been ready since August 31, 2010, though the completion was delayed by three months.

Spread over 21,875 sq m by covering the Sunehri Nallah (behind Lodhi Hotel upto Dayal Singh College along Lodhi Road) and the Kushak Nallah (from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium south gate to the Bhisham Pitamah flyover), the parking lot has been constructed in the form of an elevated road and can accommodate 820 buses. Prime facilities including modern toilet complexes, restrooms, paved footpaths, a well-planned drainage system and underground utility ducts.

The Transport department will have to pay the MCD Rs 7 crore annually for its usage and, in turn, will provide free parking to cluster bus owners. The Transport department claimed they did not want to take over the parking lot till the cluster buses arrived.

"Buses of at least five clusters can be accommodated here. What the Shunglu Committee does not realise is that had we rented out the parking lot in October itself, we would have ended up paying huge amounts to the MCD without the lot being put to use," said a senior Transport official.

The first batch of 50 buses from the first cluster, being run by Star Bus, was to arrive by January. By April, 232 buses were to be up and running. The project has, however, run into delays; not a single bus has been launched till now.


Posted by Rajeev Lochan Sharma at 1:11 PM 0 comments
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