The Ministry of Urban Development on Sunday announced a package of Rs. 19,762 crore for decongestion of the national capital and recommended a set of stringent measures, including the introduction of a Congestion Tax.
“The explosive growth in automobile population needs to be checked quickly by adopting a carrot and stick policy of enabling increased use of public and non-motorised transport and disincentivising use of private vehicles through deterrent parking prices and congestion tax,” said a Ministry spokesperson through a press release.
The measures come a year after the setting up of a “High Power Committee” following a series of media reports criticising the government for being indifferent toward traffic congestion in Delhi. The Committee has proposed that with a disproportionate increase in parking prices the number of private vehicles can be effectively brought down.
No more flyovers In addition, it has also argued that construction of new flyovers or widening of roads should be discouraged while gated communities must be turned into free zones so that people can walk through them and take “short cuts.”
Since 21 per cent of city’s area has limited scope for road expansion and 80 per cent of passenger trips are below six kilometres, the Ministry finds it necessary to develop a road infrastructure that allows walking and cycling.
Unified transport
In view of Delhi’s transportation being controlled by “18 different central and Delhi government departments and agencies,” the Ministry is thinking about setting up a “Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority for better coordination, quick decision making and execution.”
The Ministry will also deploy a fleet of 2,000 buses in coming months and add 4,000 more to it in the next phase.
All this would cost an estimate of Rs.19,762 crore.
The break-up of this sum would be utilised in development of seven pilot Parking Management Districts under PPP, integration of 207 metro stations with other forms of public transit systems, building of cycling tracks and footpaths and removal of “choke points” across the capital.
