Untangling traffic snarls

By R.N. Malik

THE traffic congestion in Chandigarh is increasing day by day. The Chandigarh Administration has yet to conceive and work out a practical solution and implement it. The Administration took the first step in the right direction, when it engaged Craft Consultants in 1997, to submit a report on improving the transport system. The consultants have now submitted a report called "Comprehensive Transportation Plan and Mass Transport Related Options for Chandigarh Complex". The two main recommendations of this report are (i) Adoption of "Urban-Bus" as the primary mode of transport; (ii) A straddle-beam type monorail system as the secondary mode of transport. Why the Chandigarh Administration has not implemented these recommendations is not known. But the first recommendation can be easily implemented and can solve 30 per cent of the problem.

Before groping for some more practical solutions, let us briefly study the extent of the problem. The traffic inflow from Mohali, Panchkula and Mani Majra should be taken into account while tackling the problem. There are four lakh vehicles in Chandigarh alone. A lot of vehicles which come from Panchkula and Mohali, gravitate towards Sector 17 and the Secretariat, causing severe traffic bottlenecks on almost all major and arterial roads. The best traffic system is one which maximises the use of public transport. That is possible only if buses are comfortable and give quick service at reasonable rates. This system should be backed by ring-rail-service. Chandigarh, unfortunately has neither.

When Le Corbusier was designing and planning Chandigarh, he had absolutely no idea that two satellite towns would come up in the next 30 years and hem the city. The worst part was that Mohali township was developed completely adjoining Chandigarh. Corbusier made another mistake when he did not ingrain the idea of ring railway or metro-rail service in the city to carry the bulk of passengers. Paris had a successful metro-rail service at that time and he should have made it part of the Chandigarh transport system. It would have been much easier to have introduced metro-rail service in Chandigarh at that stage.

Today the population of Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and Mani Majra is definitely more than 10 lakh persons. It may go up to 17.5 lakh by the year 2021. It is high time that some drastic measures are taken now, otherwise the problem will become more complex in next few years and defy all solutions — as is the case in Delhi today. For example, it would have been much easier to bring alternative roads from Mani Majra and Sector 8, Panchkula, to Chandigarh when the new townships were being planned.

The number of cars and two-wheelers in the city is very high. The number of vehicles per family in Chandigarh is the highest in the country, while the number of buses (public transport) is grossly inadequate. Approximately 25 per cent of the people travel by cars, 45 per cent by two-wheelers, 25 per cent by buses and three-wheelers and 5 per cent by cycles. Severe environmental problems as a result of increasing vehicular pollution is another cause of concern and compels people to think of an environment-friendly rapid mass transport system (MRTS). The daily consumption of petroleum is about 10 lakh litres, so one can imagine the amount of exhaust gases emitted by vehicular traffic. The most congested routes are the Panchkula-Chandigarh road up to the PGI, Jan Marg up to Mohali and the road connecting Sectors 14, 15, 16, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 27, Himalaya Marg and Dakshin Marg.

Before conceptualising a rapid mass transport system, let us think of some easier ways which can quickly give tangible results. These are (1) Introduce comfortable buses so that persons riding on two-wheelers are tempted to use them. Public transport will reduce the traffic congestion as the space occupied by one bus is much less than that occupied by 50 two-wheelers. The pollution too will decrease. Moreover, diesel emissions are less harmful than petrol emissions.

(2) When Kiran Bedi was IGP, Chandigarh, she directed two-wheelers to ply on the service roads. With two-wheeler traffic segregated, plying of cars on the main roads became much easier. The Chandigarh-Panchkula road between Sector 26 and Sector 16 looked half-deserted. But this directive was not enforced after she left Chandigarh because service roads were not continuous and joined the main road near each crossing. If these roads are made continuous with sub-ways at the crossing, the problem of traffic congestion will be solved by 50 per cent.

(3) A new road should be constructed fromSector 8, Panchkula, till Purav Marg in the city. This road will reduce traffic on the Panchkula-Chandigarh highway.

(4) A road from Sector 26 should be taken to Pinjore via Kishangarh village. This road too will ease pressure from the main road.

(5) Chandigarh should be divided into two parts — Chandigarh North and Chandigarh South. The North should cover sectors 1 to 27 and the South sectors 28 to 47.

(6) Panchkula and Mohali should be connected by a bypass via the Industrial Area, Halo Majra village and the Ram Darbar colony.

(7) The government and semi-government offices should be shifted from Sector 17 to Panchkula and Mohali. The Centre should give financial assistance to Haryana and Punjab governments to construct new offices in Panchkula and Mohali. Sector 17 should be preserved as a commercial sector like Connaught Place in Delhi. In fact, Sector 17 is inadequate to meet the commercial needs of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali. A new commercial complex should be developed somewhere in Sector 34 to meet the needs of people residing in the southern sectors.

(8) Some NRIs and MNCs should be contracted to enhance the infrastructure facilities in the satellite towns. One could have modern hospital, fruit and grain market, hotels and commercial centres in Panchkula and Mohali to enable these towns to become self-sufficient.

Now coming to mono-rail system, this new-generation technology is in vogue only in Japan. It is cheaper than the metro system because it does not involve excavations. It is an elevated railway track and runs on electricity and hence is eco-friendly. Another attractive feature of this system is that it can be laid easily and quickly along side the city roads. But this mode would require heavy investment. The Chandigarh Administration should initiate proceedings for this project e.g. engagement of consultants, preparation of feasibility reports and cost estimation. Then comes the question of the arrangement of funds. The 48 km route proposed in the report may cost around Rs 200 crore. The track can be laid in five years provided there is a free flow of funds. Since the Administration alone may not be able to arrange the funds, aid can be taken from private national agencies or international agencies like World Bank or Overseas Assistance Programme of Japan. Anyway, we can safely presume that it will take at least five-six years to introduce MRTS even if the preliminary survey work is taken up immediately.