When Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to develop 100 smart cities at a Budget allocation Rs 7000 crore, the people heave a sigh of relief thinking congestion will be a thing of the past. Â
However, a reality check tells a different story.  Delhi’s congestion is the worst among the 35 Indian cities and is four times more than Mumbai and Bangalore.
The NCR region is no different— Cyber City in Gurgaon is a dream-turned- nightmare. The realtors and architects boast of planning to global standards, but obviously there is much hype in their claim.
The showpiece infrastructure gets rusted, dusted and scooted. The footfall has grown messy. The appalling state of the roads is matched only by the non-existent traffic management. They have become a permanent feature of life in the state-of-the-art business park.
Ironically, Delhi-NCR is the one city that has pioneered alternative modes of transport such as the Metro and the Bus Rapid Transit System. And despite the availability of varied means of travel, the roads here appear to be more clogged than ever before. Often high profile cars can be seen surrounded in a cloud of dust, unable to move.
Although the number of motor vehicles has increased by 28 times between 1971 and 2014, the road length has increased by only four times. This has meant that traffic has slowed down at many places to 5 kmph in the city. Two-wheelers, cars, auto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws can be seen battling for space at peak hours.
About 40% productivity is being lost to time wasted on the road, says an IBM study on commuter pain in global cities. A study in South Delhi and the capital’s satellite cities Noida, Gurgaon and Dwarka has found that motorists crawl at 4kmph for almost 24 minutes in two hours of driving, wasting 2 lakh litres of fuel for every one million cars plying daily.
The traffic chaos on the poorly maintained roads reaches its peak between 8 am-11:30 am and 5 pm-7 pm. Vehicles from one side, especially two-wheelers, easily cross over onto the other side of the road, which could lead to fatal accidents. Bike-borne commuters frequently switch to the wrong lane. The absence of policemen on the stretch, adds to the traffic indiscipline.
45-55% of Haryana’s revenue comes from Gurgaon. It comes from the tax collected after work parties at DLF Cyber Hub, and the zillions spent at restaurants/bars and hotels in Gurgaon. The people definitely deserve better.
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(Pic Credits: Tarun Kumar)