by Sanjeev Rai Mehra and Rajiv Kapoor
New Friends Colony, A Grade Colony, in South-East Delhi, has the unique distinction of being a hi-end plotted housing area, surrounded by three urban villages and adjacent to Zakhir Nagar and Jamia Nagar. With excellent connectivity from the Ring Roads as well as Mathura Road, close to major work centres- Nehru Place District Centre and Okhla Industrial Area, enjoying proximity to many markets and speciality hospitals, New Friends Colony should be considered one of more desirable residential areas.
In reality, however, there are many problems in this area, clogged roads, due to non-existent traffic planning and management being the most critical one of them. With population in the colony as well as in the surrounding villages, Zakhir Nagar and Jamia Nagar increasing manifold in the last couple of decades, increasing car-ownership rates, rampant hawking and haphazard on-street parking have made the roads abutting New Friends Colony a nightmare to use. Roads such as the Gurudwara Road and Musafir road have become major thoroughfares for the urban villages and Zakhir Nagar.
Some time back a study was conducted by the Transport Planning Department of the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi.
Highlights of traffic study conducted by the Transport Planning Department, School Of Planning And Architecture, New Delhi
— 59% of traffic on C.V. Raman Marg is using this road as a thoroughfare.
— 35% reduction in road capacity of CV Raman Marg due to un-authorised parking and hawkers.
— 40% reduction in capacity of Gurdwara road due to un-authorised parking and hawkers and illegal shops on footpaths and on the road itself.
— 33% reduction in efficiency of the section of CV Raman Marg due to dhalao and public toilet as well as on-street parking.
— improper location of bus-stops and insufficient pedestrian facilities
— scope for improvement in traffic signal timings
— parking, hawking and cycle-rickshaws at traffic intersections reduce efficiency and safety.
Mathura Road adjoining the Colony is carrying traffic beyond its designed capacity, leading to the use CV Raman Marg as a thoroughfare. Almost 60% of the traffic on CV Raman Marg is currently using it as a thoroughfare.
On-street parking most often haphazard, all along CV Raman Marg, and a major part of Gurdwara road slowing down the traffic thereby reducing the efficiency of these roads by 30-35%.
The Solutions:
The RWA should approach the traffic Police to regulate parking of Taxis, Autos and Rickshaws by creating dedicated parking spaces and penalise commercial vehicles parked illegally.
The RWA should request the Delhi Government to formulate policies to permit Autos, Taxis and other commercial vehicles to use regular paring of Community centre free of charge during night parking. (This is prevalent in most European cities)
The RWA having failed to elicit any response from the relevant authorities to remove illegal vendors from Gurudwara road and J D Musafir road ought to file a PIL in the Delhi High Court to declare both Gurudwara road and J D Musafir road as no vending zones. (Colonies like Jangpura Extension and Panchshila Park have successfully achieved this objective on some key roads.
The RWA should request the authorities to re-design and create alternate traffic routes to help decongest CV Raman Marg, Musafir Road and Gurudwara Road and give additional access to Taimoor Nagar, Khizrabad and Zakhir Nagar.
