Infrastructure must be planned in accordance with Mumbai's growing population

Mumbais present situationInordinate delays in implementing various infrastructure projects like MUTP JVLR SCLR Metro I Monorail WorliBandra Sea Link and Eastern Freeway have resulted in transport and infrastructure not keeping pace with the increasing needs of commuters There is a tremendous growth in population especially in the Mumbai suburbs and MMR regionPoints made A V ShenoyThough the suburban Railways has upped capacity to some extent with an increase in the number of tracks and the number of rakes from 9 to 1215 they are still running jam packed during peak hours resulting in number of deaths of passengers falling from crowded trains Though 75 lakh passengers ie nearly 50 per cent of entire Indian Railway passenger traffic is carried by suburban Railways any decision regarding augmentation in capacity has to come from Railway Board in Delhi This results in delays in increasing capacity as well as implementation of actions ordered by Honourable Bombay High Court to curb accidental deaths on tracksOut of three Metros planned for the city only one has been completed The work for the second ie Metro III is yet to begin and expected to be completed only by 2019 Metro II which is more essential than Metro III is not on the horizon at all Currently the Maharashtra Govt is concentrating on the money guzzler which is the Coastal Road which will cost approximately Rs 9000 crore and will benefit only 2 per cent citizensThere is a lack of integrated view while planning Public transport and housing developments are taking place independently As a result public transport is unable to meet revised transportation needs There are too many agencies involved in implementing any project each reporting to da ifferent ministry and there is no proper coordination among them As a result there are inordinate delays in almost every infra projectVroom with a view A shot of the Bandra Worli Sea Link BWSL Location Courtesy Sportsfield building PicRane AshishThe BEST which is the sole public transport authority for running buses in the city is running at a loss due to decreasing occupancy The occupancy has gone down to about 58 per cent The BEST does not have right of way like Railways This has acutely affected the speed and punctuality of the BEST The BEST which used to carry about 45 lakh persons per day a few years ago is presently carrying only 3035 lakh passengers per day Many BEST passengers are forced to travel in overcrowded trains The AC buses bought by BEST about five years ago are making losses and the condition of the buses and maintenance is abysmalTraffic discipline in Mumbai has gone haywire due to the daily increasing number of private vehicles both cars and two wheelers mainly two wheelers The traffic police are unable to control traffic offences due to perennial shortage of staff They also have a shortage of modern equipment like CCTVs which can read vehicle number platesAn increasing number of cars and free parking has resulted in a major portion of roads occupied by parked cars commercial vehicles tourist buses tankers causing traffic bottlenecks all over the city Even newly built suburbs like Oshiwara Charkop and Powai are now congested The Govt is putting more emphasis on long term high cost and car centric projects neglecting medium and short term low cost projects This has resulted in insufficient increase in public transport and more and more cars on the roadsPedestrian facilities are totally neglected though 52 per cent of all journeys are on foot The last but most important point is that the Urban Development Department UDD reports to the CM who is normally not from Mumbai and has many more urgent and pressing issues from the entire state to look into This is creating a neglect of infrastructure projects of MumbaiVision for the future1 There is a need to have single point governance system where one person will act as Mumbai Governance Head MGH All agencies ie State Central Municipal or otherwise functioning in Mumbai will have to coordinate with him and work accordingly He will be responsible for all development work by Govt agencies and will be accountable to the people of Mumbai2 The Unified Mumbai Metropolitan Transport Authority UMMTA should be given powers to take all decisions related to Mumbai Transport and they should be binding on all authorities The UMMTA chief should report to the MGH3 Mumbai suburban Railways should be separated from the Indian Railways and a separate Mumbai Suburban Rail Corporation should be established The entire Railway network in suburban Mumbai should be owned by this corporation Railways should increase the number of 15 coach rakes as suggested by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways to augment the capacity4 Dedicated bus lanes BRTS should be implemented as this will give Right of Way to BEST thus improving its speed and punctuality BEST routes need to be rationalised to reduce the number of routes running in the same direction BEST should have corridor routes on arterial roads and feeder routes from major junctions to feed surrounding areas Monorail operations should be handed over to BEST when completed as it can be complimentary instead of having one more authority5 There should be integrated land use planning with transport infrastructure6 Short and medium term low cost projects should be priority as they will be able to absorb the additional load till further Metros are operational7 Traffic police capacity should be enhanced with more manpower Augment this with technology like high resolution CCTVs speed guns The traffic police needs to give equal if not more weightage to road safety than to just keep vehicles moving8 Fleet taxis and taxi aggregators should be encouraged as competition to regular taxis to reduce fare refusals This will improve quality of service to passengers9 Driving licence tests need to be tightened and made more technology based10 There should be a special transport fund for city transport infrastructure projects which can be obtained partially from central funds like JNNURM The rest can be generated locally from transport cess toll or parking feesThe writer is a Mumbai based infrastructure and transport expert Click here formidday 36th anniversary special