The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 22, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Inside Delhi

Flouting safety order

Most showrooms in the Capital have been flouting the Government notification about compulsory supply of helmets along with two-wheelers to buyers, according to a study conducted by Kamla Jagriti Manch, a non-government organisation.

A survey of about 80 showrooms revealed that they were breaching the notification, under which the onus of supplying helmets was shifted to the two-wheeler manufacturers with the understanding that they would supply good-quality helmets meeting Bureau of Indian Standard specifications. "The amendment had to be effective by March 16 but in practice it has not been done till now. On the contrary, the two-wheeler showrooms are making the buyers file a declaration stating that they already have an Indian Statistical Institute-cleared helmets and thus were exempted from buying a new one," said Vandana Lekhi of the NGO.

She said such a practice was unauthorised and illegal because the Government notification said that the two-wheeler manufacturer had to supply a helmet at the time of purchase. The NGO, during the study, found that several showrooms were not selling ISI-mark helmets. The organisation is of the view that these helmets are not safe as they cannot absorb the impact in the event of an accident and hence there is an increase in the cases of deaths in accidents involving two-wheelers.

The organisation also conducted a survey at various petrol pumps covering about 2,000 two-wheeler drivers and found that 90 per cent of them were not wearing ISI helmets.

To curb such practices, the NGO has suggested that helmet must be included in the list of Indian Standards Under Mandatory Certification as it involves safety of human lives.

-- Devesh K. Pandey

For free flow of traffic

With the volume of traffic increasing exponentially in the Capital, the planners in the past few years have resorted to segregation of traffic much before the major crossings. Be it Ashram Chowk in South Delhi, the Ring Road-Bhairon Marg intersection in New Delhi or the Kirby Place crossing in South-West Delhi, at all these places the cuts for left turn have been set further away from the intersection so that vehicles stopping at the crossing do not come in the way of free movement of the left-turning vehicles.

While this move as also the placement of bollards on the T-points for allowing vehicles to continue with their straight journey have improved traffic flow at most places, the menace of parking of vehicles on these slip roads remains acute at certain places like Ashram Chowk. Here, vehicles coming from the Badarpur side and bound towards Lajpat Nagar on Ring Road have great difficulty in negotiating the cut as despite there being a service lane many of the shop-owners and their customers park their vehicles on the slip road.

In the absence of any monitoring by the traffic police, the problem assumes grave proportions during rush hour, when the flow of vehicles becomes heavy and partial blocking of the slip road forces them to move in a single file. This also has a cascading effect on the vehicles coming in from behind as there is a crowding of vehicles at the mouth of the slip road and they virtually jostle for space to move ahead. It is essential to both prosecute the wrongdoers and to make them aware of their larger duty towards society.

-- Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Festival time

It is a festival that is celebrated with great pomp and ceremony across Maharashtra. Over the years, Ganesh festival has come to occupy a special place in the hearts of Delhiites also.

Lord Ganesh was given a warm welcome at the Trimourti Maharashtra Emporium on Baba Kharak Singh Marg here this past week, when an exhibition-cum-sale of idols of this popular god opened there.

Coming in beautiful and sometimes unexpected forms, shapes and sizes, Lord Ganesh idols are available in plaster of Paris, clay, metals like copper, brass, silver, bronze, glass, rosewood, crystal and terracotta. Also up for grabs are elegant idols engraved in conches and betel nuts.

The sizes vary from six inches to six feet, while the prices range from Rs.50 to Rs.20,000. "Toran", "chourang", pooja articles, "rangoli" and mouth watering "modaks" are also being sold.

Since 1972, the Maharashtra Small Scale Industries Development Corporation has been organising this exhibition-cum-sale to showcase the creation of artisans from across the country.

The current exhibition will be on till August 27.

-- Madhur Tankha

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