RMC suspends six Revenue staffers

Raipur, September 17, 2010

The civic Commissioner Om Prakash Choudhary on Friday suspended six Revenue staffers on grounds of truancy. The six employees are - Assistant Revenue Inspectors Kishor Digaskar and Shaida Hussein, peon Kallu Ram Yadav and coolies Sheikh Amir, Jeevan Nishad and Chhannu Lal Nishad. Notably, about 35 Revenue staffers including these six were absent during the surprise visit of the Urban Administration and Development Minister Rajesh Munat to the RMC’s Revenue office at Netaji Subhash stadium on September 10, 2010. Taking serious note on this, Munat had directed the municipal’s Additional Commission Taran Prakash Sinha and Deputy Commissioner Krishna Dubey to take disciplinary action against the absentees.



Traffic woes: Solutions galore, tried none

Raipur, September 17, 2010

When a city expands, the first glaring change it observes is in its traffic system that suddenly becomes unwieldy. However, when the problem poses challenge like a riddle, copious solutions pour in from all corners, but the relevant authorities hardly implement them to fuller extent even in spite of hiring some expert consultancy agencies. Raipur is facing similar circumstances ever since it became state capital ten years back.
In the recent past, Raipur has emerged as a fertile destination for population migrated from other places owing to growth of industrial and commercial activities. The city has infrastructure, which is tempting enough to induce migration from the rural settlements. Similarly, the capacity of the city to provide employment opportunities and absorb its working populace in various sectors of economy is an important indicator of its economic viability and self-sustaining characteristics.
In this backdrop, the traffic problems in the city sprang up in magnitude in the absence of advanced actions. And as anticipated, the Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) also failed to develop short term and tong term traffic & transportation plan to meet the expected transport demand of the city in future.

Vehicular growth
Owing to the improving socio-economic level in the Indian cities and inadequate mass transport system, personalised motor vehicles are growing at the rate of 6-15 per cent per annum in different cities. In most of the cities, scooters & motor cycles comprise of more than 70 per cent of the total motor vehicles.
Likewise, the registered vehicles in Raipur have increased significantly over the years. The number has climbed from 0.19 to 3.76 lakh in last ten years. This high density and rapid growth of vehicles have worsened the transport situation to a significant extent.
The growth has been phenomenal registering an annual growth of 8.34% in last 5 years. The share of two wheelers is highest, i.e. about 75%. It is significant to note that 7% of the vehicles now in Raipur are cars and jeeps. About fifteen thousand cars have been added in the City since last 5 years.
Obviously, the phenomenal increase of the vehicles has resulted in dense concentration of traffic on roads.

Responsible authorities
The traffic scenario in any urban area is too complex to be handled by a single institution and the situation is same for Raipur. The Raipur Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Raipur Development Authority (RDA) share the primary responsibility for urban transport planning, design and management. The role and responsibility is demarcated clearly for both the organisations.
The principal responsibility of RDA is to ensure holistic development of Raipur. The RDA’s main function is to prepare macro level development plans and strategies for 20-30 year perspective. The area includes RMC and urban outgrowths covering municipalities and village panchayats. The total development area encompasses about 188 Sq km.
The Town Planning (TP) schemes within RMC are prepared by the municipal corporation and submitted to the RDA. The RMC is responsible for providing basic services and infrastructure for the citizens of Raipur. The traffic regulations are being controlled by Traffic Police. In addition to this other institutions involved in the delivery, management and regulation of transportation in the city are Indian Railways (IR), Airport Authority of India (AAI), Public Works Department (PWD), gram panchayats, Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) and state government’s Transport Department.

Road network
The total road length in Raipur is about 970 km out of which 570 km are pucca roads and remaining kuchcha roads. The road network within the municipal limits is predominantly in ring radial pattern.


Traffic characteristic
The intensity of daily traffic volume (on average basis) on GE road in the city varies from 16,845 passenger car units (PCU) on Tatibandh chowk towards Amapara to 77637 PCU on Ghadi chowk towards Shastri chowk. Similarly, the stretch of road from Fafadih chowk towards Bhanpuri chowk records 46,412 PCU.
The daily traffic on important arterials recorded on Shankar Nagar road at Bhagat Singh Chowk towards Shankar Nagar is 40,471 PCU, while 63,297 PCU on Jail Road from Fafadih chowk towards Ambedkar hospital chowk, 54,420 PCU on Railway Station road from Fafadih chowk towards Railway Station, 35,177 PCU on Subhash Marg from Telghani Naka chowk towards Station chowk, 39,292 PCU on Bhainsthan road from Telghani Naka chowk towards Agrasen chowk and 30,739 PCU on Budha Talab road.
In the outskirts, the Raipur-Bilaspur Road (NH-200) near Bhanpuri chowk towards Bilaspur carries 21,713 PCU, Dhamtari road (NH-43) records 34,896 PCU from Pachpedi Naka chowk towards Kalibadi chowk and the road stretch from Telebandha chowk towards Mandir Hasaud records 38,130 PCU. Overall, about 1.27 lakh vehicles enter and leave the city with 1.4 lakh PCUs.

Is RMC apathetic towards major issues
The existing road system is characterised by limited capacity especially in the central business district (CBD) area. This is further adversely affected by roadside encroachments (such as parking, vendors etc), inadequate junction geometrics and lack of adequate traffic management measures.
Besides, the RMC have never made an effort to identify or develop new alternative routes to most common destinations. The existing inner ring road system requires upgradation of capacity in certain sections along with strengthening of major arterials.
The city has heavy mixed traffic - both motorised and non-motorised. As many as different modes of transport are competing for the same road space. This ‘mixing’ has led to increased travel time, delays, obstruction and frequent breakdowns.
The RMC should segregate slow and fast vehicles and prohibit animal-drawn carts from major roads.
Similarly, the intracity bus fleet in the city does not match the present population. The RMC has already received fund to purchase 100 new city buses, but the reason for its delay to bring the wheels on road is still unfathomable.
The city population is currently commuting in personal and para-transit modes like auto and cycle rickshaws. This is cause of acute traffic congestion and environmental pollution. Therefore, there is a need to upgrade public transport system along with terminal infrastructure for short and long-term use.
The vital transport modes in the Raipur city are auto rickshaw and two-wheeler. Especially in peak hours, auto rickshaws cause major traffic jam. They have no set route patterns to follow and are certainly the prime movers of the city, despite strangulating the citizens of fresh breath air. Even the pedestrian facilities and space requirements of parking is not commensurate to demand.
Moreover, the city does not have proper bypass system for the separation of local and intercity bypassable trips. It is leading to traffic congestion and delay in city area in peak hours. The road intersections, too, have not been designed properly as per traffic demand.