Transport chaos is part of any city’s growth - Gurgaon is no exception. This has happened to Singapore, Manhattan, Tokyo and Shanghai, and in India to New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and the like. But some have learnt in time and managed well, while others still flounder. According to Gurgaon District Town Planner, Shri P.P. Singh, the State Govt. could not predict, and was not equipped to tackle, the sudden exceptional spurt in the City’s growth. “The population of Gurgaon rose from a couple of lakhs to more than a million within a decade, which could not have been estimated,” he said. Consequently, he believes, the Transport system has yet to catch up with the Real Estate development in Gurgaon. There is also a lack of co-ordination among various departments responsible for managing the City’s growth, according to the Chief Town Planner, Shri J. S. Redhu. Various concerns, regarding faults in planning and implementation, were voiced at a seminar, ‘Transport Planning -issues and way forward’, which was recently organised at Gurgaon by the Institute of Town Planners, Haryana Regional Chapter.
The development of Gurgaon city was initiated way back in the mid- eighties, by primarily DLF, Ansals and Unitech. In the late nineties and after, scores of other developers/builders, some new some established, including international builders, joined in, to contribute to the ‘growth‘ of the city – now called the Millennium City. And who was responsible for this large scale licensing? Of course the Haryana Town Planning Department. But they have just sanctioned…and then gone to sleep. There has been very little monitoring. And even lesser learning. Even now the State (multiple agencies) is not realising the need to urgently develop a matching civic infrastructure for the construction in the newly licensed sectors. Thankfully, at least certain roads have been developed or renovated - like the Golf Course Extension Road, new connections to MG Road/Delhi, the road to Faridabad and Sohna Road. But even these developments have not been able to keep pace with the volume of vehicular traffic. The city roads have exhausted their carrying capacity, especially during peak hours - leading to traffic jams even on the Expressway. The road users do not follow any traffic discipline, and traffic signals at times refuse to function because of frequent power breakdowns, leading to chaos at the junctions. The exit/entry roads from/to the Expressway are as good as cycle tracks. Pedestrians have no right of way – even near hospitals and schools. In fact facilities for the pedestrians – like walkways, bridges and subways - are mostly missing.
One wonders what is going to happen to urban growth in Gurgaon over the next decade. If this City continues to be mismanaged, many will suffer. The younger generation, who have opted to settle down in Gurgaon, will get drowned in traffic jams and vehicular pollution, leading to a waste of time and energy, and even unpredictable health problems. The City may come to a grinding halt. The Planners at the Seminar recommended the setting up of a Haryana Unified Urban Transport Authority (HUUTA). It’s maybe a case of too little, too late. The authorities in Gurgaon should seriously consider putting a semi-colon, or even a full stop, to further construction in the City - at least for a few years…and urgently work on alternative (public, and non-motorised) modes of transport.
We are like that only…
Write-ups in a local daily, dating back to 1947:
Nov. 22, 1947: New Delhi Road-Hogs
‘A drive for stricter enforcement of traffic rules in New Delhi is overdue. There has been a great increase in the number of cars on the roads in the recent months; with it, the standard of driving, never high, has become much lower. There is a sad lack of discipline among drivers, and road manners are almost non-existent’.
Dec. 20, 1947: Motor traffic in Delhi doubled
‘There were 10, 000 cars registered in Delhi by the end of 1946. So far this year, another 4,000 have been registered and applications for another 8,000 have been received. Thus, in less than a year, motor traffic in Delhi has been doubled’.
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