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Delhi takes a new look at corridor of chaos

PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

CORRIDOR OF CHAOS: Bharatiya Janata Party and Yuva Morcha workers holding a candlelight march in protest against the Bus Rapid Transit Corridor at Moolchand flyover in New Delhi on Tuesday evening. –

NEW DELHI: Stung and shaken by widespread public uproar over the chaos unleashed during the trial run of the controversial new Bus Rapid Transit corridor in South Delhi, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday convened a meeting of all stakeholders who decided to withdraw Blueline buses from the corridor, fine-tune the signalling pulse, and deploy additional manpower to check traffic indiscipline.

Following the nearly two-hour-long meeting, Ms. Dikshit said that on the first two days of the trial run on the 5.6-km Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand section of the corridor Blueline buses were found to be the biggest violators of the norms. As such, she said, it had been decided not to allow any Bluelines to ply in this corridor and press into service more of the sleek low-floor Delhi Transport Corporation buses.

“We are due to get more low-floor buses over the next few weeks,” the Chief Minister said, adding that the meeting also decided that the functioning of the corridor would be reviewed every week. Also, till the Government is completely satisfied with its efficacy, it would keep all the other BRT projects planned for the Capital on hold, she said.

The Chief Minister directed Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf, Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary P.K. Tripathi, Transport Commissioner R.K. Verma, DTC Chairman-cum-Managing Director Ramesh Negi, Delhi Integrated Multi-Model Transit System CMD S. N. Sahai, Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police (Traffic) S. N. Srivastava, CMS vice-president C. Krishan Kumar, RITES Managing Director V. K. Agarwal and Professors Dinesh Mohan and Geetam Tiwari of IIT Delhi to work towards streamlining the project.

Stating that efforts were being made to overcome teething troubles and the difficulties being caused to commuters, Ms. Dikshit said more traffic marshals and police personnel would be deployed to enhance awareness about use of the corridor. Also, DTC has been told to deploy two conductors in all its buses to ensure that passengers do not hang out from the footboards. The Delhi Government would also be taking help from experts of IIT Delhi to develop a software package for providing the best traffic signal pulse for all hours on the corridor. This would help in its optimum use and reduce congestion.

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