Delhi Traffic

When one thought of Delhi’s infrastructure, they praised its wide roads, traffic light free flyovers and well marked major arterial roads. Now, while all the above continues to be true, we have disorderly traffic, chaotic traffic jams, never ending road construction projects, an ineffective traffic police and Delhi drivers who love to break rules and flout laws. Welcome to aamchi Delhi!

Clearly, we haven’t been in such a mess in the past (other metros have struggled with Delhi’s current issues for many years), so what has happened that has caused this utter urban chaos? I can think of many reasons, but let me pen down a few important ones:

1. Supply vs. demand mismatch – The infrastructure that Delhi has traditionally boasted of, hasn’t kept pace with the number of vehicles on the road. Delhi has more cars that the combined number of the other 3 metros (Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai).
2. Traffic Police – I have always struggled with the segregation of the Delhi police into traffic and criminal – while, this division should have created a strong focus and alignment to the ideals each of these departments withhold, for some reason, it has lead to inefficiency and disregard for each other. I have always gotten the sense that the traffic police is the step child of the policing engine in the country – I would be curious to know how many leading IPS officers are directly inducted into the traffic police!
3. Disdain for the law – With the traffic police and the Delhi police having created water tight containers, it is but natural that the people believe they can take law into their own hands. It isn’t very uncommon to read about incidents of street fights over parking, road rage leading to countless victims or people not following the most basic of traffic rules (stopping at traffic lights).
4. Lack of coordination between civic authorities – Here comes the icing on the cake thats gone bad! The roads are governed by the MCD/ NDMC (municipal corportations), the electricity for the traffic lights are owned by BSES/ NDPL (electricity utilities), the water pipes running under the roads is owned by the DJB (Delhi Jal Board), sewage pipes owned by PWD (Public Works Department) and the signaling owned by the Delhi Traffic Police. With minimal information flowing between these departments, it is fairly common for the signals to be non-operational, roads being dug up without adequate notice (leading to more traffic snarls) and the roads getting flooded during the slightest of rains (don’t even talk about the monsoons!)

Unlike my other posts, this is not an easy problem to solve… however, it is NOT impossible either. We are not trying to solve world hunger, so let us try and getting into the trap of waiting on someone else to take the first step. I would like to suggest a couple simple recommendations to get started:

1. Public Transportation – With India’s economy on the rise and the urban middle class having more disposable income, the number of vehicles can only go north. So, just widening roads or building more flyovers is not going to solve the problem at hand. This is the only way of solving the supply vs. demand mismatch problem… the metro, in my opinion, is a perfect example of what dedication can achieve. Connaught Place to Lal Kila in 8 minutes on the metro vs. an hour in the traffic – what do you think people choose? While thinking about public transportation, the government needs to partner with the private entities to ensure the highest international standards and also the nimbleness of working with smaller concerns.
   1. Air-conditioned buses, more Metro lines, feeder buses, an integrated network of taxis and autos (both of whom are made non-fleecing) are critical to move in this direction
   2. Public education around usage of public transportation is another critical aspect of ensuring that people make the switch
   3. Incentive for people traveling to work using public transport (IT discount?); disincentive for people driving into work (higher road registration charges? greater parking charges?)
2. Delhi Police – For one, can we start bringing the cops into the gambit of the law? A cop does not get a license to break the law; they uphold the law by acting as role models. Since bribery is one of the chief reasons for their inefficiency or callousness, this topic in itself is way bigger than the problem we are trying to solve here. However, one change that is required is better coordination between the two arms of the Police – both arms of the police should be able to issue challans/ tickets to violators. Violators turning abusive (physically or verbally) need to be booked under appropriate sections of the law (or taken into custody, if required).
3. All civic authorities have to directed (not managed) centrally – create a Delhi Urban Development Enforcers (the acronym of Dude is purely coincidental!) – they do not manage the day-to-day operations of the multiple civic authorities but hold them responsible for their individual actions and also ensure that there is some amount of visible coordination. This task force is not a separate department (though it is acts autonomously) – the task force is made up of people (including departmental heads) from all the other civic bodies. These individuals are responsible to ensure for cooperation amongst the different agencies and are authorized (and empowered) to enforce policy within their particular civic body.

That’s it! This will not solve the problem in its entirety but will definitely put forward a postive outlook – an outlook that the common man has been screaming for, an outlook that each government (and opposition) has been claiming to bring in and an outlook that a developed country needs to boast of.

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