Judicial Officers & Lawyers to teach school children on legal awareness

After the address of the PM Modi to the Teachers & Students on Teacher’s Day and his suggestion that the professionals should take out time and visit local schools to teach children on their respective subject, a beginning has been made by Delhi Judicial Services. Here is the news covered by Indian Express:

Judicial officers visit schools to ‘teach’ law to children

Written by Aneesha Mathur | New Delhi | Posted: October 29, 2014 2:44 am
In a first, serving and retired officers of the Delhi Judicial Services visited various city schools on Tuesday and interacted with children, explaining to them the importance of law in society.

The sessions were organised by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA), which has launched legal literacy clubs in schools to educate students on the legal aspects of various issues. Students from Class 9 to 12 will be made part of the clubs.

The judge who took the session at the Government Girls Senior Secondary School at Roopnagar focused on crimes against women.

Girls spoke about harassment and how laws can help.

“The children have to be made aware that certain kinds of behaviour are crimes, but there is no point in telling them about the IPC, so we have to figure out how to say the relevant things without complicating them,” the judge, who conducted the session at the girls school, said.
At a similar session at a boys school, students raised issues of “protection” against “false cases” and how it was the duty of all citizens to stop crimes against women.

“What you see as ‘fun’ is actually eve-teasing that can get you jailed. Mistakes like these affect your life and that of everyone around you,” the judge, who conducted the session at the boys school, said.

The judge and the principal asked the students to follow traffic rules, not ride motorcycles without licences and never overspeed.

The DSLSA, along with the Education department, launched the legal literacy campaign on Monday, which was attended by school principals, lawyers and judges from district courts, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

The legal literacy clubs have been launched in Delhi government schools for now. Similar sessions are planned at central government schools, private schools and schools run by the New Delhi Municipal Council from November. The students who are part of the clubs would then act as “peer counsellors”, spreading awareness about laws and civic duties among other students.

“The challenge before legal aid today is to convey to the children that they have a legitimate stake in local, national and international governance, that we are all equal citizens and we all have an equal say in how our lives and communities should be run,” Chief Justice of India HL Dattu said at the inaugural session on Monday.

Principals said for the initiative to succeed, constant monitoring and several sessions should be held. “Also, police have to enforce laws. Boys ride bikes on roads, but no action is taken against them,” one principal said.

Source: Indian Express

60 Village of NCR to be covered under Waste Management Project

60 villages come under waste management project

Gurgaon, 16 Jul 2014

Sixty villages from Gurgaon district have been short-listed for the implementation of Solid and Liquid Waste Management Project under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) for the current financial year.

The project will help in segregation of solid waste and considerably enhance wastewater treatment capacity and help in generation of recycled water for agricultural and other purposes.

Deputy Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi said only those villages which have won or figured in the list of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar have been chosen for the project. The pilot project for waste management is already underway at Mubarakpur, Hasanpur and Kankrola villages in the district. In Hasanpur and Kankrola, the project is being run by the Institute of Global Development, a non-government organisation, with good results. Mr. Vidyarthi said encouraged by the response to the project in these villages, they have now decided to extend it to other villages.

In the first phase, the project will be implemented in 16 villages, including Barmoli, Badshahpur, Devlavas, Ransika, Heraheri, Bhakraka, Maujabad, Mahchana, Bapas and Uccha Majra.

Under the project, pits will be dug up under sheds in each village to convert wet waste into manure. Tri-cycles will be hired to collect solid waste from around the village every morning and bring it to the pits for recycling. “The wet waste will then be separated from dry waste like polythene bags, glass, iron and cardboards and can be composted. The separated non-biodegradable waste will be sold to scrap dealers,” said Mr. Vidyarthi, adding that two safai karamcharis will be appointed in each village to collect waste. These karamcharis will be initially paid through the District Rural Development Agency, but later the village panchayat will bear their cost.

Similarly, a low-cost drainage system will be put in place in each village to carry water from kitchens and toilets to ponds outside the village. Three ponds will be dug up on the outskirts of the village to recycle the water and make it reusable. “The water will be filtered through the first and second ponds to reach the third. It will then be taken to fields for irrigation and also put to other use,” said Mr. Vidyarthi.

Project Director Rajesh Gupta said concrete dustbins will be constructed in schools and Anganwadi centres to encourage women and children towards cleanliness. “The villages identified for waste management have been classified into four categories for allocation of funds. The villages with 150 households will be allocated Rs.7 lakh, while those with 300 households will be released Rs.12 lakh. Similarly, the villages with 300-500 households will get Rs.15 lakh and the bigger villages Rs.20 lakh,” said Mr. Gupta.

Source: The Hindu

 

Will Sabarmati model suit Yamuna redevelopment ?

A 13 member team of Delhi Officials has reached Ahmedabad on a two day visit to explore possibilities of replicating Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati riverfront project along the Yamuna in Delhi. The team — headed by Secretary of Environment and Forests, Sanjiv Kumar — was sent to Gujarat to study the project and submit a report to L-G Najeeb Jung’s office on the possibilities of replicating the model in the capital.

The visit is said to be a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Jung last week, during which Modi had suggested that Delhi follow the Sabarmati example. The team includes heads and members of Delhi’s various departments — CEO of Delhi Jal Board Vijay Kumar, DU professor C R Babu, DDA landscape expert Savita Bhandari and members of Tourism and Flood Control departments.

The team reached Ahmedabad yesterday and visited the gardens on the riverfront, which were developed at a cost of Rs 18 crore. The team also studied the transformation of reclaimed land into parks. A presentation was given of the Rs 1,250-crore riverfront project by Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited. The visiting team also queried as to how the slums on the riverfront were rehabilitated.

Cautious approach

There are different views to development of riverfronts passing the cities. The environmentalist would not like the river bed to be touched for any concrete development or major human intervention since it may disturb the natural habitat and wetlands. However, the development model followed by many cities of the world would prefer to make the Yamuna more closer to people so that people get connected to it and participate in its revival. Exploring tourism potential by developing riverfront will give opportunities to the state government to generate revenue while people of Delhi also get some open additional public space for leisure time and recreation.

However, the long lasting effects of Sabarmati model need to be studied carefully before blindly implementing this model in Delhi given the plethora of issues right from encroachments, ghats, release of enormous excess water from Hathini Kund barrage in Haryana during monsoon season, excessive pollution due to industries in Haryana & Delhi and the need to preserve the wetland areas for biodiversity around Yamuna.

Also the plan to revive Yamuna has to be wholesome  i.e. from its origin to its last leg and not just limited to the extent of the territories of National Capital Region. This is a herculean tasks and successive governments have wasted enormous funds both domestic and international development agencies in the name of saving the Yamuna.

I personally want to see a day when the Yamuna doesn’t smell like a dirty nullah when I cross over it!

Here is the report from Indian Express

 

Shahdara Lake- a garbage dump- to be revived as tourist hostspot

Modi Effect : Revival of Shahdara’s lost lake on cards now

New Delhi: An area around the Shahdara lake, which has been turned into a garbage dump over the years, is on its way to become a tourist hotspot.

East Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to revive the little-known Shahdara lake and develop the area. The Rs 22-crore project, which will include an amphitheatre, banquet hall, facility for recreational activities, and a playground around the lake, was recently approved by Trans-Yamuna Area Development Board.

The corporation has already got National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to prepare the plan for rejuvenation of the lake and development of the area — spread over 30 acres — around it. “It is an important project as we are not only going to revive the lake but also develop the area around it. There aren’t many open spaces in east Delhi. This will be a one-ofits-kind facility in Delhi. Now that Trans-Yamuna Area Development Board has given the go-ahead, we will start the work soon,” said S S  Yadav, commissioner, East corporation. The project is likely to be over in two years.

The main challenge before the civic agency is to revive the lake, which has dried up over the years. For this, the corporation plans to use treated sewer water.

According to the plan, a 15-20ft-wide moat will be constructed around the lake where waste water will be collected and treated. It will then be released into the lake.

“We will treat close to three million litres of water every day. Once the lake is revived, this treated water will be used to recharge the groundwater. With the help of NEERI, we are going to set up treatment plants,” said Yadav. The sewer water will be treated using phytorid method, a chemical-free procedure. The lake, which is spread over 14 acres, will offer boating facilities.

The corporation also plans to construct walkways around the lake. Five acres will be developed as space for recreational activities. “There are plans for a football ground, children’s park, haat, amphitheatre, a wetland discovery centre etc. As the place is very close to Welcome Metro station, we are optimistic that it will be a success. We area also planning a learning centre for children,” the commissioner said.

The corporation has been working on this project for a long time, he added. “This space was just getting wasted as people used to dump garbage. We decided to turn this place into a tourist centre,” he said.

For the cash-strapped municipal corporation, this is also a way to boost its revenue through a banquet hall, conference rooms, two party lawns, a haat etc.

The area will be developed on a private-public partnership model. “This is one of the first PPP projects being undertaken by the corporation. Once completed, it will become a tourist hotspot. This open space in east Delhi will be a good thing for residents. Also, we will earn good revenue from this project,” said a senior official.

PROPOSED PLAN 

Reviving the Lake
3 million litres  of sewer water to be treated every day using phytorid natural technology and then released into the lake  15-20ft-wide  moat to be constructed around the lake for collecting and treating waste water Amphitheatre Two lawns for party Banquet hall along with conference rooms Play area for children and a football ground Walking and cycling tracks around the lake Wetland discovery centre Food and souvenir shops Parking space

Major Benefits

• Well-developed open space with play and recreation zones
• Close to Welcome Metro station and residential colonies
• Effective utilization of treated water
• Facility for groundwater recharge
• Will help East corporation earn revenue

Source: Times of India & The Indian Express

Burning of leaves continues unabated in Delhi despite bans

Dear Colleagues,

We all know that burning of leaves & bio waste is an unscientific way to get rid of them. Solution lies in organised mass composting. In Delhi, the Municipal Corporations/ cantonment boards have though dug up pits in the Parks / Gardens to burry leaves for composting as per the order of the Chief Secretary, however, these are not managed properly and the practice of burning continues unabated.

I bring to you some photos from a DDA Managed “Maharishi Dayanand Park, G-8 Area Hari Nagar, Delhi 110064 where such a practice continues. Some people who party in the park and some from surrounding areas also throw discarded plastic & glass waste into these pits rendering the composting exercise futile.

Needless to say that the fumes emanating from burning leaves add to the dust and smoke already present in the atmosphere. Burning leaves emit noxious gases bearing polyaromatic hydrocarbons, sulphur dioxide and ammonia. Inhaling these fumes can cause asthma, blockage in the lungs, irritation in the eyes and cough. The practice is so pervasive that every neighbourhood in Delhi suffers from it.

Lets pledge on this World Environment Day today to object to this practice and report such cases immediately to office of LG. I have taken the first step.

Legal Mandate

(a) Order of Chief Secretary of Delhi dated 17 Dec 1993 available on Delhi Govt. website bans this practice. Click here to obtain a copy.

(b) The Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2000 and the Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority (EPCA) also prohibit the burning of leaves.

Solutions

Department of Environment has strongly suggested composting of leaves and giving back to nature its due, by converting the pits into rich natural manure.  But we all have to come forward to monitor it and become eyes of the administration / Government.

Don’t sit quiet. Bring such matters to the notice of the authorities. Remember, an awakened citizenry can only ensure good administration.

 

Delhi’s traffic chaotic- thanks to Multiple Authorities with no coordination

Dear Colleagues,

I feel amazed how we govern ourselves in a city like Delhi. The new BRT corridors has best of cameras being monitored by the DIMTS office at Kashmere Gate but none of the defaulter gets caught! Why? Because the information is available with DIMTS but it is the Delhi Traffic Police which is the enforcement agency who have no control over this information! This is ridiculous & most chaotic way of governance forced upon us by the successive governments who created authorities after authorities with no convergence. Now if it is said that Delhi roads are a driver’s nightmare as there are too many agencies and no coordination, it is closer to the truth!

A simple example of how an urban artist who goes by his nick name “Daku” has been experimenting with the redundant road signages put up during the commonwealth games by the Govt. of Delhi with no action even after he has significantly changed the context of the signage (though for better reasons to make them more meaningful the official way) flouting the law so to say. The Hindu covers it under the title “Delhi Gets its very own Banksy”

The Bus Q shelters in Delhi built on the sidewalks on arterial roads (except the BRT Corridor) are touted to be accessible with a design of ramp on both ends but the ramp never meets the road to make it effectively accessible to the disabled, children or elderly. Every wondered why? The sidewalk is with PWD / municipality while the bus shelter is with DTC and has been constructed by a concessionaire who had no coordination from the space owning agencies, hence the bus shelter remains an island of accessibility!

Didn’t you ever notice the speed limit on the ring road ? It is indicated as 50 for cars and 40 for heavy vehicles. However, I learnt that the traffic police challans the cars that go above the permitted speed of 60 kmph on the ring road…. what a huge confusion between the PWD and the Traffic Police right under the nose of the authorities in Delhi!

Here is a related piece from The Hindu written by Damini Nath

Multiplicity of authority messes up traffic management

For a city that has 75 lakh registered vehicles, the fact that the Capital has no centralised traffic management authority is shocking. No wonder, according to experts, the city’s traffic management is a mess. The multiplicity of authority in Delhi has made traffic management a confusing matter. Roads less than 60 feet wide are with the municipal corporations, while the Public Works Department is responsible for wider roads. The National Highways Authority of India is in charge of maintaining important highways between different States in the National Capital Region.

The stop signs are put by the PWD, but the stop lines are drawn by the road-owning authorities. To add to this, the Transport Department and the Traffic Police are also involved.

All these agencies have put up their own cameras, which are not linked with each other. So if a fleeing vehicle is captured by a Delhi Police camera in a crowded market and then again by a municipal corporation camera at the border, there is no way to track it.

Rohit Baluja, president of the Institute of Road Traffic Education, said all large cities in the world have one, centralised authority monitoring all things related to vehicular movement. “In fact, Bangalore, Mumbai and Jaipur have already set up traffic management centres. Delhi, unfortunately, is a mess because there are too many agencies and no coordination,” said Mr. Baluja. He said a centralised traffic management centre was the need of the hour. “We need to bring all these agencies together. For example, the municipal corporations should have a dedicated traffic engineering centre, with standard operating procedures,” he added.

Another problem with the city’s traffic management is that it is being looked after by the wrong authority. “Everywhere in the world traffic management is the responsibility of the road authorities, not the police. The Traffic Police is just supposed to come in for enforcement,” Mr. Baluja said. Adding to the confusion, a lot of the signages on the roads are inaccurate. “Almost 50 per cent of the signs put up by the PWD are wrong. For example, the rules say that eight-cornered stop signs have to be put on minor roads, but the PWD has put them on major roads,” said Mr. Baluja.

Delhi needs an accountable traffic management system that involves all the road authorities, according to Mr. Baluja.  —Damini Nath

Source: The Hindu

 

 

 

 

Urban Waste may bury Delhi soon if not handled scientifically

Delhi may drown in its own waste

Growing by heaps and mounds, Delhi’s garbage crisis may soon reach its breaking point.

Three of the four stinking waste mountains (landfills) are long overdue for closure and there are no fresh landfills available to take in the current daily discard of 9,000 tonnes. By 2020, the Capital needs an additional area of 28 sqkm, more than the entire spread of Lutyen’s Bungalow Zone, to dump 15,000 tonnes of garbage daily.

Since as much as 85% of the city doesn’t have a formal door-to-door trash pick-up system, the emerging scenario is both worrisome and scary. The 2,500-odd filthy community bins (dhalaos) that serve as secondary collection centres for the three municipal bodies in thousands of colonies will start overflowing, and garbage will spill on to the streets. Residents will have no option but to start throwing waste out, making Delhi drown in its own discard.

The situation may soon go the Bangalore way, where the waste management system has collapsed and the entire city turned into a garbage heap last year when villagers blocked the way to the lone landfill because of environmental concerns.

Same mistakes have been committed here also. People in Delhi are also bitterly opposed to new landfills coming up in their neighbourhood as they have seen the authorities did not maintain the past ones scientifically, turning them into massive, polluting heaps. The black thick liquid, leachate, created when rainwater filters down through the landfill, has made the soil highly toxic. Rainwater runoff goes into surface water drains while methane poisons the air.

Despite court intervention, the government and civic agencies have failed to find a way forward. The civic bodies have now told the Delhi high court that “since there’s no other option, we have been forced to put human life and property at risk”.

Delhi’s non-dumping options to manage waste have also shrunk drastically. Burning waste no longer seems viable because of environmental concerns and poor segregation of waste. Compost plants are not doing well because manure doesn’t sell, and again becomes garbage.

As much as 50% of the waste is fit for composting. About 30 per cent of it can be recycled. Effective segregation at source, in transit and during disposal, will mean only 20 per cent of the refuse is needed to be sent to the landfill site. This will also mean a cleaner city with fewer dhalaos, garbage trucks and longer lifespan for landfills. But instead of proper segregation, only random picking continues.
Either private sweepers, who snap up the most sought-after refuse, or residents themselves take waste to dhalaos. There, rag-pickers slog through the muck to hunt for recyclable materials.

When waste is taken from dhalaos to landfills, another set of trash-pickers collect what their street counterparts miss, completing a cycle of “illegal” segregation.

Civic bodies blame residents for not segregating waste but what’s the point when everything will eventually be mixed-up? Segregation by residents will only work when the corporations have a complete door-to-door waste collection system and trash pickups have separate containers for dry and wet waste.

Delhi has miserably failed to manage its waste load. Only 15 per cent of R1,350 crore that the three corporations spend on waste management and sanitation is spent on actual disposal. The rest goes into collection and transportation.

The authorities must ensure segregation and promote composting and recycling. They must quantify waste generation for setting effective reduction targets. But don’t wait for the authorities to do everything. From segregation, recycling to composting — you can make a difference. And, yes, consume and waste less. Now is the time.

‘De-centralising management of waste is need of the hour’

Interview: Bharati Chaturvedi
Bharati Chaturvedi of Chintan Group has been working with volunteers to help solve Delhi’s waste management problems. She is running collection and recycling projects at four railway stations and several colonies in the Capital. She spoke to HT on how Delhi can manage its waste better.

Where have we gone wrong?

There are no reduction targets. We are investing in waste-to-energy plants that need dry waste, such as plastics, paper and cardboard. But what about 6,000 tonnes of wet waste that Delhi spews out every day? Taking waste all the way to centralised facilities is a blunder.

What’s the way out?

Wet waste can be easily composted, or turned into bio-gas. To do this, we don’t need large compost plants, but more and smaller ones at the municipal ward level. Those who can must start small composting units at home. People must start reducing packaging. There can be no change without reducing consumption.
What should the government do to promote composting?
The Delhi government should buy back a minimum quantity of compost made of waste at pre-decided rates from RWAs, colonies or NGOs or even companies. This should be in lieu of the compost MCD’s horticulture departments buy from the market.
How can we make recycling more effective?
We must have to upgrade the working conditions of rag-pickers, kabariwalas who recycle nearly 20% of the waste. They have not been given any space to sort out and store waste. They should also be given training and help for occupational safety.

Comparisons

Exemplary Surat

In the 1980s, a population boom and urbanisation in Surat spelled growth of slums, piles of garbage and overflowing drains.
A plague outbreak hit this Gujarat city in 1994. The world saw the havoc a city’s failure to manage solid waste could wreak.
But soon the city changed gears and became one of the cleanest cities in the country. Behind the transformation, there was planning.

Residents cooperated through reduction, reuse and recycling. Institutional changes took place, too. Waste management was decentralised, grievance redressal was made effective. Littering meant fines. And all this has sustained.

The civic body has engaged private sweepers for penetration. Contractors are actively involved in transport, collection, and disposal of waste.

Bangalore’s mess

Bangalore, which generates 4,000 tonnes of solid waste a day, has still not recovered from a major garbage crisis that gripped the city in September last year. Villagers blocked the way to the landfill to protest dumping of untreated waste, turning the city of gardens into a garbage dump. The civic body has made it mandatory for residents to segregate garbage at source. But garbage collectors still aggregate waste. Now a processing unit each is being planned for all assembly segments.

Global trends

In 2004, China became the world’s top waste producer, toppling the US. China will now have to spend eight times more on waste disposal by 2020 and require 1,400 new landfills.

Source: Hindustan Times

 

Delhi may drown in its own trash (Mail Today)

STARING at an acute waste disposal crisis, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation ( SDMC) sanitation department is letting garbage dhalaos to pile up in order to avoid dumping it at landfill which is already overflowing with the existing waste.

The urban eyesore is not confined to posh South Delhi colonies; it’s a pan- Delhi reality triggering Capital’s urban picture littered with stinking filth not lifted for weeks together. At some places, the pileup only gives an excuse to local residents to turn that spot into a make- shift dhalao.

While in 2007- 2008, the Capital produced a total of 5,500 metric tonnes of garbage waste.

But in six years, it has almost doubled and stands at 9,200 metric tonnes.

The population of the Capital has grown 40 lakhs in the last decade, which in turn, has increased the amount of garbage. However, the civic bodies haven’t added any new infrastructure or identify new landfills. “ It is not that the sanitation services are lackadaisical, but where do we dump the garbage finally? All three landfills – Ghazipur, Okhla and Balsawa are already overflowing with waste. Moreover, the budget doesn’t allow the civic bodies to add new infrastructure like waste trucks, etc,” admitted an SDMC official.

Shifting the blame to the DDA, the NDMC sanitation officials said that the corporation has identified a number of sites to be used as landfills, but the land owning agency has not allotted any land for the same as yet.

Almost 85 per cent of the city doesn’t have a formal door- todoor trash- pickup system, leading to 2,500- odd unhealthy dhalaos ( waste dumping enclosures) serving as secondary collection centres.

Mail Today on Tuesday visited the posh colonies of South and West Delhi only to find heaps of garbage on streets, foul smell and overflowing dhaloas all over SDMC’s jurisdiction.

Not only does this make the localities uninhabitable, but the foul smell can be quite hazardous for your health. Sandeep Sharma, a resident of Vasant Vihar, who takes the Nelson Mandela Road in Vasant Vihar daily, said: “ I drive through this road every day for the past 15 years and I haven’t seen this place clean even a single day. It’s shameful.” If the sanitation situation at Vasant Vihar is bad, it is much worse when the team travelled towards the Southeast colonies of Delhi like Kalkaji, Chittaranjan Park, Malviya Nagar, Green Park and New Friends Colony.

Residents of New Friends Colony alleged that since the Lok Sabha Election Day, some of the dhaloas haven’t been cleaned and is now over- flowing with over two weeks of garbage lying on the nearby streets. The situation in the posh colonies of West Delhi is no different.

Cyclists pushed off the road by Car Friendly City Scape

Traffic experts say car-friendly city pushing cyclists off its roads

Ruhi Bhasin : New Delhi, Wed Oct 23 2013, 01:12 hrs

In the absence of proper cycle lanes along major arterial roads in the city, cyclists have no choice but to brave heavy traffic on a daily basis. Such lanes, constructed around the Commonwealth Games 2010, exist only around stadiums and flyovers and tend to end abruptly while the tracks along the existing BRT stretch from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand have all kinds of vehicular traffic plying on it.
Despite proper guidelines for creation of cycle tracks and non-motorised vehicle (NMV) lanes, the lack of implementation has resulted in putting cyclists constantly at risk. Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Sunita Narain was injured on Sunday when an unidentified vehicle rammed her while she was cycling her way till Lodhi Garden.

“Delhi was the first city to come up with detailed guidelines for road design, that took into consideration the needs of non-motorised commuters. But these guidelines aren’t considered during approval of road design. The prime concern while constructing new roads is to look at the movement of vehicles, not people. Even now, infrastructure development is centred around increasing speed and comfort of motorised vehicles. The cyclist is pushed to the fringes,” said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, a transport expert with the CSE.

Traffic experts said the problem with cycling tracks — or the lack of it — begins at the level of policy-making. “The government’s policies that deal with traffic and its management are focused on motorisation. While other countries such as Sweden, Germany or even England are looking to increase cycling by investing in preparation of tracks and dissemination of cycles, this isn’t the case here,” said Rohit Baluja of the Institute of Road Traffic Education.

Baluja added that existing cycle tracks, such as the ones on the BRT corridor, had failed to attract cyclists due to a similar attitude. “The cycle corridor is there, but only in name. There are two-wheelers and even cars plying on it. In such a situation, cyclists simply don’t feel safe enough to use them,” he said.

While both Master Plan-2021 and street-design guidelines issued by the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (planning and engineering) Centre emphasise the importance of creating NMV lanes, none of it has actually been implemented on the ground.

Master Plan-2021 states that segregated cycle tracks should be provided on all arterial roads with provision for safe parking in park- and-ride lots while in urban extension, cycle tracks should be there at the sub-arterial and local roads.

The street-design guidelines states that NMVs are the second most vulnerable group of road users and, therefore, must be clearly segregated from faster-moving motorised traffic.

“We are introducing NMV lanes in roads which are either being widened by us or along new flyovers. Existing NMV lanes were made during the Commonwealth Games and are around stadiums and flyovers constructed then. There is no plan to extend them further,” said PWD spokesperson Ravi Mathur.

The traffic police believes that a proper public transport system and creation of NMV lanes are necessary for safety of cyclists. Traffic officials claim to have written to the Transport department several times and have suggested measures such as creating the lanes without compromising on existing carriageways. The Transport department, meanwhile, maintain that traffic police has been opposing NMV lanes.

A senior traffic police official said, “A person using a cycle usually commutes a shorter distance. The need is, therefore, to create additional lanes with new infrastructure in areas such as central business districts and colonies and developing societies such as in places like Dwarka and Rohini.”

Source: Indian Express

 

Where do the children play

The Hindu, Madhur Tankha, 05 Aug 2013, Delhi

Many children living in the city are being deprived of parks where they can indulge in their inalienable right to play

Children, irrespective of their sex, religion and nationality, have a right to play in a safe environment in their neighbourhoods.

While Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly stipulates that every child has a right to play and the State should encourage them to participate in such events, children growing up in several parts of the city, particularly the congested Walled City and East Delhi areas, are being deprived of this vital element of human development due to limitation of space and the Delhi Development Authority’s negligence and lack of planning for parks.

For children living in the Walled City area, particularly in the labyrinthine lanes of Ballimaran, sports means watching satellite channels beaming football or cricket matches. With a rich and vibrant culture and once home to the world’s greatest poet Mirza Ghalib, Ballimaran is yet to have a children’s park; and the locals are annoyed by the civic authorities’ lack of concern. .

Earlier, children used to play on the Red Fort ground but after the terrorist attack in 2000, the Army has taken over the entire area and has prohibited its use.

According to Babar Kaleem, a resident of Ballimaran, parents are reluctant to send their children to Company Bagh (the nearest park) as it is frequented by unsocial elements .

“This park is unsafe for children as drug addicts frequent it. . Some children accompanied by their parents visit this park but playing is not an option there. An all-women’s park exists but it cannot be used by children because parents are not allowed inside.”

While the Walled City’s boys, obsessed with sports, peddle in their rickety bicycles to travel to Raj Ghat where they play in the sprawling park overlooking the memorial built in memory of the Father of the Nation, girls are usually deterred because of the distance.

For Zubia Mahak, a 12-year-old girl living in Kucha Pandit, playing sports in the narrow by lanes of the Walled City is fraught with danger as motorcycles zip by at frightening speeds.

Her father, Nafis, said children cannot play without any interruption because “street vendors selling dates, lemon drink or sherbet, biryani, rotis, groceries and even clothes swarm the by lanes st.”

To make matters difficult, rickshaw-pullers in a hurry to earn a quick buck at times peddle furiously and often end up hurting the children.

In East Delhi, too, the situation is not different, particularly in the congested areas of Mandawali and Vinod Nagar where the lack of civic parks is a major issue.

In the Mandawali area, DDA maintains the Mohammadi Park but the land agency has installed a board warning residents not to play cricket, hockey or football in it. As a result, they use the park for their morning walk and yoga.

A couple of children’s parks in Vinod Nagar are surrounded by open filthy nallahs.

“Playing a game of volleyball in the park means remaining to become immune to the stinking smell. Some of the more adventurous lot play but leave early because they cannot stand the obnoxious smell for long. It is high time that the municipality clean these nallahs and cover them. Otherwise they would continue to become a dumping ground and remain infested with flies,” says a resident.

Meanwhile, a sports event will be held at Ambedkar Stadium on August 6 to stress the fact that every child has a right to play. Teams from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Sarvodaya Vidyalaya and St. Columba’s School will play football with children of Butterflies (a voluntary organisation working with vulnerable children). The event seeks to put pressure on policymakers to ensure that every colony has well-maintained and safe parks where children can play.

Source: The Hindu

Review Petition against BRT claims it is against Delhi Master Plan (MPD 2021)

Dear colleagues,

Two weeks after the Delhi high court dismissed a plea from an NGO seeking scrapping of the bus rapid transit (BRT) in South Delhi,  a fresh plea seeking a review of the said decision was filed on Tuesday.  The petitioner  claims that  the stretch from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand ( a total of 5.8 kms) is against the Master Plan of Delhi as the minimum road width required for a BRT is 150 feet (45 meters) and not 100 feet.

Court admitted the review petition and issued notices to the Government of Delhi to respond.

Here is the news report:

 

Source: The Indian Express

BRT against Master Plan norms, says petition, HC seeks govt reply
Jayant Sriram : New Delhi, Tue Nov 06 2012, 01:42 hrs

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Delhi government to respond to a review petition filed after the court dismissed a plea to scrap the Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor in South Delhi.

The review petition said the court had rejected the plea without considering the aspect that the 5.8-km stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand was against norms stipulated in the Master Plan Delhi (MPD) 2021.

“The government counsel should seek instruction from the Transport department regarding the width of the road from Ambedkar Nagar to Moolchand by November 21,” a Bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Manmohan Singh said.

The Bench also told the counsel for the petitioner — NGO Nyaya Bhoomi — that the contention that the BRT violates MPD 2021 was not mentioned in their original writ petition.

The High Court, on October 18, held that the BRT corridor project was not an “irrational decision” of the government and had dismissed the plea to scrap it after a nine-month hearing.

The review petition has referred to the court’s observation that the controversy over the BRT erupted because the Delhi government had chosen one of the “narrowest” and most “congested” stretches for its pilot project.

“The MPD 2021 is a statutory plan and has the force of law. According to the Master Plan, the BRT cannot exist on a road less than 45 metres wide,” the plea said.

B B Sharan, president of the NGO, said: “The Master Plan states that the BRT should be on a road where the total width is 45 metres and above. However, this court has inadvertently computed 45 metres as 100 feet, whereas 45 metres is about 150 feet.”

“The MPD mandates maximum use and utilisation of the road, but in this BRT project, 45 per cent of the road space is under-utilised,” the plea said.

 

Source: The Hindustan Times

Plea seeks review of court’s BRT order
Harish V Nair, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 31, 2012

Two weeks after the Delhi high court dismissed a plea seeking scrapping of the bus rapid transit (BRT) in South Delhi, a fresh plea seeking a review of the decision was filed on Tuesday.

The petition says that the 5.8 km stretch between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand was chosen against the norms of the master plan Delhi 2021.

The HC had on October 18 said the BRT was not an ‘irrational decision’ by the government and dismissed the plea to scrap it after a nine-month hearing.

The decision came as a huge boost to the Delhi government, which had 14 more such projects in the pipeline.

The review petition, set to come up for hearing soon, heavily banks on the observation of the court that the row over the BRT erupted because the Delhi government had chosen one of the ‘narrowest’ and most ‘congested’ stretches for its pilot project.

Col BB Sharan of NGO Nyaya Bhoomi, the petitioner in the public interest litigation that sought scrapping of the project, said, “We are seeking a review of the October 18 judgment. It had ignored the norms in the MPD 2021 that specifically lays down that BRT cannot be allowed in a road which was less than 45 metres in width. If the judges consider this aspect, there could be a re-thinking on this stretch as well as other similar stretches planned in the capital.”

“In para 13 of the judgment, the court stressed that MPD 2021 is a statutory plan and has the force of law. As per the master plan, the BRT cannot exist on a road less than 45 metres in width,” said the petition.

On May 12, the court had allowed other vehicles on the BRT as part of a feasibility study undertaken by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI).

The court had opened the corridor to other vehicles after the CRRI said commuters benefited without the BRT.

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