The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inside delhi

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Tuesday, Nov 03, 2009
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New Delhi

Inside delhi

A big relief

The traffic situation on National Highway 24 in East Delhi has significantly improved ever since the traffic police and the Public Works Department engaged in construction of the grade separator at Ghazipur made the area around the construction site signal-free.

With motorists and other road users now required to make use of the U-turns provided on both ends of the under-construction flyover, the traffic situation has significantly eased at this junction where prior to this arrangement the waiting time for vehicles during peak hours used to be around half an hour.

The creation of the U-turns on either side has once again highlighted the importance of good planning in traffic management. While at Ghazipur crossing, the U-turns may have been created out of necessity as the work on the grade separator is now being carried out on a war footing, it has now become abundantly clear that by doing away with the intersections at important junction through introduction of such circular movement of traffic, the situation can be improved to a great extent.

But this at best can only be a temporary solution; as in the case of Ghazipur where the construction of the flyover would ultimately do away with the need for U-turns. About a couple of kilometres away at Akshardham, the creation of a similar U-turn is now raising the eye-brows of the residents of nearby colonies.

For motorists coming from Noida side and eager to take a right on NH-24, the journey is longer than earlier as the cut on the highway has been closed to allow for straight movement of traffic. As such the motorists now have to take a U-turn from under the rail over-bridge about a kilometre ahead and then take a left on NH-24.

This is proving to be quite a hellish experience for many. They insist that the Delhi Development Authority, which had constructed the flyover, should expedite the work on the three remaining clover leaves on the Akshardham flyover over NH-24 so that both travelling distance and time get reduced. But the project has been pending for a long time and is showing no signs of taking off yet.

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

‘Lakshmi’ matters

Grandiose campaigns, one even featuring superstar Amir Khan launched by the government to educate auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers about the need to be courteous towards visitors, seem to have had little impact on the fraternity.

Incredible India’s hallmark atithi devo bhava (guests are gods) line has been interpreted rather differently by some. On a late evening outside the bustling Khan Market the other day, auto-drivers were on an over-charging spree. The presence of two traffic policemen busy managing the endless stream of cars entering the market wasn’t a deterrent and harassed commuters had little choice but to pay up.

Three foreigners were also trying hard to negotiate with the auto-drivers but made little headway. The trio, who wanted to go to a hotel on Ashoka Road, finally managed to flag down one driver, who asked them to shell out Rs.60, which is easily more than two and a half times the fare.

When a friend tried to intervene, the auto-driver was not amused. He began shouting insults at the friend for spoiling his chances at making money. When the friend tried the atithi… line, she was cut short with….Lakshmi aa rahi thi, aapne aane nahi di (You barred Goddess of wealth Lakshmi from coming to me).

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Colonial hangover

A friend travelling by the metro railway during peak hours was witness to an unusual sight the other day. The train was packed to capacity and the friend noticed that a man smilingly vacated his seat for another person who was standing.

Assuming that the person was old or infirm, she glanced at him only to realise that he looked fit as a fiddle and not elderly by any means. Belatedly she realised that the man was a foreigner with white skin.

There were many others standing who looked as if they needed to sit such as elderly citizens and women with children in their arms. Yet the man had given his seat to a foreigner which was an obvious sign of a colonial hangover.

Another person who heard about the incident reasoned that historically Indians are famed for their hospitality and for treating guests well. Thus the man may have vacated his seat for the foreigner because the latter was probably a visitor the country. Yet the friend was inclined to think that charity begins at home and the man should have vacated his seat for his own fellowmen who were more in need of the seat than the foreigner was.

Urvashi Sarkar

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