Saving Lives on Jaipur’s Roads?Jaipur is one of the worst five cities in the country for road accident deaths. In

2006, the rate of traffic accident deaths per million population in Jaipur was 233,as against Amritsar’s 33 or Kolkata’s 36. Agra was the worst at about317 deaths per million population. And the numbers continue to riseevery year for cities like Jaipur where poor attention is paid to thisepidemic.

Road fatalities have been described as an epidemic by the WorldHealth Organisation in its first ever ‘Global Status Report on RoadSafety’. This report was launched in New York on June 15, 2009. Thereason is that in 2004 road accidents was the ninth biggest cause fordeath in the world and by 2030 it is going to become the fifth biggestkiller.

The report further says, more people die in road accidents in India thananywhere else in the world, including the more populous China. In 2007, 1.14 lakhpeople in India lost their lives in road mishaps indicating a sharp rise of 6.1 percentduring 2006-2007. One of the main causes of overall casualties is speed and nearlyhalf of the most affected people are the vulnerable road users that includepedestrians, cyclists and the two wheeler riders.

If the government is serious, the way forward to arrest this spate of casualties isto implement holistic traffic calming measures on the roads, which can reduce speedsubstantially. This was the focus of a just completed two-year extensive researchstudy done by CUTS along with Lund University of Sweden in the high accidentzones of Jaipur city (see page 2) with the support of Swedish InternationalDevelopment Agency (SIDA).

Sweden has been at the forefront of road safety, where it is a national obession.They have evolved scientific systems, which are being used around the world to savelives. Using the famous Swedish conflict technology, the CUTS research study hascome up with distinctive traffic calming strategies that if implemented will definitelybring down the rate of accidents and improve the environment by bringing downthe levels of noise and air pollution. Above all, it will provide safety to vulnerableroad users.

Alas, the issue of safety for road users has long been neglected by the townplanners and policy makers. Our roads are not meant only for motorised vehicles,but also for pedestrians. The project has triggered a debate for the first time in Indiathat every road user has a right to feel safe and comfortable on road.

Measures suggested to calm the traffic are not only simple but also extremelylow-cost and if implemented as per the locations suggested and with proper designwill not only help in the reduction of fatalities to a large scale but also improve theoverall environment.

In spite of several rounds of meetings and presentations in the past two years onthe project with the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) personnel, a bizarredisinterest has been shown to implement the suggested measures. They have beenhiding behind the norms of Indian Road Congress (IRC) and justifying their inabilityin implementing the measures on the sites. JDA believes that the speed breakers andraised zebra crossings, that are the major components of the project, cannot beinstalled on the roads as the per the IRC guidelines. However, the IRC guidelines aremerely suggestive in nature and are not cast in stone. Another reason for thiscallousness was that the proposed measures were cheap and not big budgetprojects, which provide greater ‘incentives’. This attitude is the biggest enemy to anyinnovation, which can improve the Indian system. Status quoism zindabad!

4/2009

I N S I D E

Calm Traffic to ImprovePedestrian Safety

Jaipur to Have Metro by 2013

First Road Tunnel in JaipurPradeep S Mehta, Secretary General

www.nimg.sulekha.com

| 2 | City Matters • 4/2009

In the LimelightIn the LimelightIn the LimelightIn the LimelightIn the Limelight

Calm Traffic to Improve Pedestrian Safety

CUTS and the Department ofTechnology and Society (DTS),

Lund University, Sweden, under theproject ‘Traffic Calming Strategies toImprove Pedestrian Safety in India’,implemented in partnership with SwedishInternational Development Agency(SIDA) and in collaboration withTransportation Research and InjuryPrevention Programme (TRIPP) ofthe Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),Delhi, organised regional disseminationmeetings at Jaipur, Bangalore, Mumbai,Kolkata and New Delhi during October01-28, 2009.

The pilot project was initiated inNovember 2007 selecting 24 accidentalsites of Jaipur based on the accidentsoccurred and recorded in FirstInformation Reports (FIRs – a writtendocument prepared by the police whenthey receive information about thecommission of a cognisable offence) forthe year 2006. Each site was videorecorded along with manual observationfor 26 hours. Then these recordings wereused to judge and verify the behaviouralstudies, counts, situation etc. to identifyproblems from the pedestrians’perspective based on “ConflictTechnique”.

The technique identified the appropriatesolutions to be an effective andinexpensive measure in reducing theintensity of conflicts in Indian scenarioand also can be replicated on Jaipurroads. Suggestions emerged from the

study were submitted to the JDA andJaipur Traffic Police for their needful.

The aim of the meetings was todisseminate the key findings (flaws in roadgeometry affecting pedestrians) of twoyears research studies conducted onaccident-prone sites of Jaipur city andfor getting responses and opinions fromrelevant stakeholders, which can be usedall over the county. The responses willbe documented in the form of a Manual,which will be the first of its kind, includingrecommendations on remedial trafficcalming strategies to be utilised bypolicymakers, primarily from theDepartment of Police , Transport,Municipal Corporation, DevelopmentAuthority and Public Works.

The responses received in the regionalmeetings were incorporated in the saidmanual and were shared with nationallevel policymakers, researchers andinstitutions at New Delhi, on October28, 2009. Apart from representative fromeducational institutions and departmentsengaged in construction, planning andexecution of road and traffic policy/plans etc. also joined the disseminationmeeting to share their opinions on thefindings presented in the meetings.

While presenting the “Traffic CalmingModel’, the project partners Prof ChristerHydén and Prof Ase Svensson from LundUniversity especially pointed out thatthere is an urgent need for Traffic Calmingmeasures in Indian cities. Pedestrians areextremely exposed and vulnerable, andthe speeds are too high to allow a safeand proper communication.

One main problem is that road usersare not offered any comfortable and safecrossing options e.g. existing pedestriancrossings are not suited for pedestrians.They concluded that there exists acondition of “chaos” on majority of IndianRoads that has to be dealt with the helpof Traffic Calming only and in terms ofremedy to this chaos they stronglysuggested the presented model to beadopted in Indian cities which will helpin reducing speeds and promote decentroad user behaviours in the same way asthey have proven in Europe.

4/2009 • City Matters | 3 |

BriefsBriefsBriefsBriefsBriefs

Jaipur to Have Metro by 2013In view of burgeoning population andrising traffic congestion in the Pink City,the State Government is gearing up tobring metro rail here and, if all goes well,the project willmaterialise by2013.

The StateGovernmen thas roped in theDelhi Metro RailCorpora t ion(DMRC) for theproject. The project will take off in March2010. The phase I of the project will runover 28.5 km. It will start on the 9-kmlong Chandpole-Mansarovar corridor.This will be elevated part of the east-west corridor, while the remaining 3 kmwill run underground in Ramganj, BadiChaupar and Chhoti Chaupar.

The 16.5 km long north-southcorridor will run between Jawahar Circleand Jal Mahal, of which 13-km stretchwill be elevated. The work on this sectionwill be over by 2014 and the Metro willstart operations on this route by 2015.The initial run would be limited to a nine-km stretch that would be expanded inseparate phases as was done in NewDelhi.

The first phase of the Metro wouldcost the State around Rs 5,300 crore andit plans to float a company based on“equity holding” to arrange for thefunds.

(TT, 23.08.09)

Jaipur in Top 10 Rich City List‘Have money, will spend’ seems to be themantra that Jaipur swears by. Accordingto the first of its kind of survey on thelifestyle of the Upper Middle and Rich(UMAR) Class done by Nielsen, the PinkCity features in the top 10 affluent citiesin the country.

It was found in the survey that Jaipurwas at par with cities like Delhi, Mumbaiand Bangalore, when it came to mallvisits, but lagged behind in premiumhealth club memberships. Surprisingly, ittopped the charts in matters of lookinggood.

Multinationals and big companiesheading to Jaipur in the last few yearshave made a big difference to the lifestyleand outlook of people here. Not just that,the number of denizens heading overseason leisure holidays too was impressive,

despite the economic downturn. Withthe city on a splurge spree, it is going tozoom ahead in such charts in the timeto come. (ToI, 04.09.09)

Satellite Imaging for JaipurGoing a step further from checkingground realities, the JDA will take a bird’sview of Pink City to ensure that it draftscity’s development plans to perfection.In a first time move, the JDA plans tobuy aerial pictures of the city and hasset the ball rolling by applying for licenseto acquire the pictures.

The authority is expected to take helpof ‘Google Earth’. Till now, aerial mappinghas been used by private developers andsatellite images were just confined toresearches. The Google investment willbe multi-functional. The Authority aimsto use images to tackle the evil ofencroachment and curb land mafia. Itaspires to optimise land use pattern inthe city by identifying empty pockets andensuring their appropriate utilisation infuture projects.

If implemented, it will be the first timethat JDA will be using the method thatis fast becoming popular among the netsavvy citizens to plan their road trips inthe city. (ToI, 04.07.09)

Swap Incandescent for CFLExchange yourincandescent bulb witha CFL for a nominalcharge. That’s the offerJaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigamis giving to its domesticconnection holders, partof its energy savingprojects. Under the‘Bachat Lamp Yojna’ of thebureau of energy efficiency, theGovernment, Jaipur Discom, along withBanyan Environmental Innovations,Hyderabad, would replace more than 3.1million bulbs in the district.

Turning to CFLs would reduce totalpeak demand by 140 MW of power andabout 255 million units of electricity willbe saved annually. A consumer couldsave up to Rs 700 in his annual energybill.

Under the scheme, Banyan willreplace two incandescent lamps of 60or 40 watt of working condition withCFL for each consumer of Jaipur Discomat the cost of Rs 15 each. It will take ayear to implement the scheme across

the district. Initially, this shall beapplicable to the clients of Jaipur districtonly, but later on, it will be spread allover Rajasthan. (ToI, 04.07.09)

Auto-on-metre a Non-starterThe transport authorities’ bid to run theautorickshaws on metre seems to havefew takers in the city. After the notificationcame into effect asking the auto driversto charge their customers as per themetre reading, it seems to be ignoredby all.

The autowallahs continue to chargethe hapless commuters exorbitantly, withvirtually no check on them. However, thefact remains that despite the directives,the drivers have not fixed their metres.

When the plan was launched, manyautorickshaws did not have metresinstalled, while the drivers did not haveuniforms. Fares based on meters wouldeliminate disparity and make travellingconvenient for locals as well as tourists.Meanwhile, commuters allege theautorickshaw drivers tamper with themetres, so as to charge higher amounts.

(ToI, 08.10.09)

More Liabilities to JMCAlready grappling with a shoestringbudget, the Jaipur Municipal Corporation(JMC) has been waiting to get thehousing colonies transferred from othercivic bodies like the JDA and RajasthanHousing Board (RHB) for many years.

“The Government only transfersliabilities to the JMC and not any assets.The lack of political will on part of theGovernment and the JDA has delayedthe transfer. We could have generatedsome resources as we are acutely shortof funds”, said Mayor Pankaj Joshi.

More than 250 colonies from theRHB and the JDA are waiting to comeinto the JMC fold, so that the ‘world-class city’ dream could take off. The JMClooks all set to expedite the process oftransfer, amid reluctance on part of othercivic organs. (ToI, 04.07.09)

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

City MattersCity MattersCity MattersCity MattersCity Matters is a Bi-monthly newsletter published by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302 016, India,Phone: 91.141.228 2821, Fax: 91.141.228 2485 Email: cuts@cuts.org, Web site: www.cuts-international.org, and printed by Jaipur Printers P. Ltd., Jaipur, India.CUTS offices also at Kolkata, Chittorgarh and New Delhi (India); Lusaka (Zambia); Nairobi (Kenya); Hanoi (Vietnam); London (UK); and Geneva (Switzerland).

Sources: HT: Hindustan Times; ToI: Times of India; PTI: Press Trust of India; TT: The Tribune

Jaipur Walkways Await ‘Walkers’The walkways constructed by the JDAat the Collectorate Circle and theNarayan Singh Circle, and a subway atAjmeri Gate, are rarely used by thepedestrians. Built at the cost of hundredsof thousands of rupees, the walkwayshave been put to best use only byadvertisers.

Pramod Bhasin of Muskan (an NGO),said that it is wastage of money if peopledo not use pathways and subways,particularly when pedestrian roadaccidents are on the rise in Jaipur.

An of f ic ia l of CUTS sa id theauthorities have ignored its suggestionson road safety. He said that thewalkways remained unused because theGovernment did not conduct a need-assessment study before going aheadwith the construction.

(HT, 06.10.09)

Nitrate in Underground WaterJaipur’s underground water quality is indanger. Nitrate, a molecule made up ofnitrogen and oxygen, is found in adisproportionate amount inunderground water. the consumption ofnitrate is harmful for the human body,as it causes stomach disorder and ininfants it causes ‘methemoglobin’, acondition which is also known as bluebabies.

Nitrate consumption can be avoidedby use of reverse osmosis water plant.Long-term measures should be initiatedto increase the level of ground water.The Government should lay seweragelines in areas that lack them.

(HT, 29.09.09)

First Road Tunnel in JaipurThe work on JDA’s biggest ever project,the Rs 150 crore Ghat ki Guni Tunnelproject, was formally inaugurated by theChief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, nearTransport Nagar Bus Depot.

On the occasion, the Chief Ministersaid efforts will be made for overalldevelopment of the city to ensure thatJaipur is developed as a world class cityand said emphasis will be on completingprojects in scheduled time.

He said that the tunnel will open newpossibilities for development along theJaipur-Agra highway and help inextension of Jaipur. The possibilities fordevelopment of Naya Jaipur (a newtownship near Kho Nagoriyan) are beingsearched. (ToI, 14.10.09 & PTI, 11.10.09)

New Master PlanThe Government is drawing up a newmaster plan for Jaipur to develop it as aworld class city. New master plans arealso being prepared for 109 other towns.The Metro rail project and the Jaimahalproject are some of the steps taken inthis direction.

The State Government would shortlycome out with a new housing policy,where the poor would be given dueconsideration. The Government has seta target of constructing at least 10,000houses a year and a total of 1.25 lakhhouses in the next five years.

It is a challenge to provide qualitybasic services to the people, with theever-increasing population. The agenciesworking in these areas had to accept thechallenge and come out with solutions.

(ToI, 13.10.09)

Bisalpur Pipeline LeakedChaos prevailednear the OfficersTraining School(OTS) Circle onJLN Marg as theBisalpur pipelineleaked with lakhsof litres of valuablewater gushing outof the damaged pipe. The leakage gave atough time to officials concerned and alsocreated a mess in the surrounding area,only adding to the woes of citizens.

The Chief Engineer of the BisalpurWater Project, Agam Mathur, informedthat the mishap occurred due to anincreased air-locking pressure in thepipeline. The maintenance work andfill ing up of the trench would becompleted soon and that the watersupply from this line to the walled cityand other centres in the city wouldresume this month.

According to the officials, the ChiefMinister visited the site and has made itclear that the loss due to the mishapwill be paid by the contractor at the site.

(ToI, 03.10.09 & 04.10.09)

Business Thriving under Cops’ NoseAcross the road, justoutside the entranceof RajasthanUniversity, is a laneof hawkers sellingbanned cigarettesand tobaccoproducts. Not that the sale of theseproducts is banned, but according to thegovernment guidelines, there is acomplete ban on the sale of tobaccoproducts within 100 square yards of anyeducational institute.

On the busy JLN Marg, which isconstantly under the surveillance of cops,the rule is almost non-existent. Whenasked about how come they are allowedto sell these products near the university,vendors almost unanimously say, “What’sthe harm. We do brisk business and asmall cut ensures that the business runssmoothly. Also, operating out oftemporary outfits helps”. (ToI, 01.10.09)

Illegal Construction High in JaipurAs Jaipur advances towards becoming ametro city more hi-rise buildings are setto show up on the city map in future. Ithas become vital for the authorities toensure safety of inhabitants of these tallstructures when hit by calamities like fireand earthquake.

The JDA has marked some areas inthe master plan 2025 where extracaution has been prescribed forearthquake safety. However, not all thebuildings in the city are beingconstructed as per architecture designor even with administrative clearance.

It is these illegal constructions thatare most prone to damage duringcalamities; in several cases encroachershave constructed multi-storeyedbuildings at locations which earlier usedto be water bodies. In many multi-storeyed buildings there are not enoughsignages to guide people in cases ofearthquake and fire. (ToI, 24.10.09)