Life in the lazy lane

Vehicles crawl as trials are on at roads partially closed to accommodate CWG vehicles

After Saturday's nightmare of long traffic snarls due to Commonwealth lanes' trials, Delhi commuters were put to test again on Sunday morning from 11 am to 1 pm from NH-24 Nizamuddin to Noida Mod and IP College to Chhatra Marg. Keeping the previous day's mess in mind, trials were kept on a lean Sunday when traffic volume is almost half.


Talk to the hand: A traffic police jawan giving instructions to people to
avoid a lane dedicated for CWG athletes and delegates, at NH-24, near
Akshardham Temple, in New Delhi on Sunday. PIC/Imtiyaz Khan

A total of 40 people from the Delhi traffic police were deployed to ensure that the trials are a success and this was largely done to avoid any kind of pandemonium. On Saturday, the city police conducted trials on Dhaula Kuan up to Hotel Samrat and on Vinay Marg to Africa Avenue which led to traffic issues.

The situation on Sunday was a little controlled according to the Joint commissioner of police, traffic. "It was a successful trial being a Sunday, but we are yet to see the situation when we will have the trials during weekdays. The most important idea is to educate more and more commuters about the CWG lane," he said.

The CWG lane meant exclusively for athletes and other VIPs during the Games extends for about 210 km through the entire Capital. These trials are meant to gauge the impact of segregating a separate lane in the upcoming days. A lot of road planning experts believe that there is no other option to manage traffic other than dedicating a lane for CWG officials and athletes.

The movement of these athletes, VIPs and media will be crucial during the Games and considering the Delhi traffic in mind, if this is not done then there are high chances of them getting stuck in jams. P K Sarkar, Professor, School of Planning and Architecture says the traffic situation will be messy if the management is not done properly.

"I did a study on the management of traffic plans of Melbourne and Seoul and the rules were quite strict there with a fantastic system. It is a customary practice which has no substitute. There has to be comprehensive traffic management and the public should also be involved in decision making so as to avoid any problems," he said. During the Games the volume of traffic is expected to be high but many believe that closure of schools and colleges will reduce some congestion.

S Gangopadhyaya, Director, Central Road Research Institute welcomes it as a necessary move. "It is impossible to predict the traffic situation during the Games now but a little bit of cooperation from the public and effective traffic management can make this step a success. Due to event many people will prefer to stay indoors knowing that the possibility of traffic jams will be high," he said.

Not all the CWG lanes will be blocked simultaneously; there will be proper scheduling keeping the traffic situation in mind. "There will be an element of doubt as far as Delhi's traffic is concerned so a better cleaning of encroachments and garbage is required to avoid traffic jams near these lanes," said S Gangopadhyaya.

AVOID THE BLUES
2000 traffic police personnel would be deployed all along the Games route. They would monitor and levy fines on those drivers straying into the CWG lanes from September 20 when the athletes start arriving. There will be zero tolerance during this period. The traffic police have already given out a proposal for dedicated lanes. The penalty for prohibition on Games lane will amount to rupees 2000. The lane will be declared under 115 Motor Vehicle Act, the violation for which is rupees 2000. The dedicated lane is part of the contract entered into by the host city and Commonwealth Games Federation.