February 2008
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Civil Society News
Gurgaon
IF you have been stuck in those endless traffic
jams in Gurgaon you may have wondered what
the problem is.
Three young men, sachin, Sumit and Satish have
the answer: Gurgaon has no public transportation
plan. The three have filed right to information
(RTI) applications wanting to now what the plan is
and drawn a blank. They have met senior officials,
including, most recently,
the Deputy Commissioner
of Gurgaon, and come
away without a clear
answer.
With its skyscrapers,
shopping malls and plush
offices, Gurgaon is often
described as India’s millenium
city. The rich flock
here to build stylish
homes. The swish set like
to believe it is up market.
There is the exuberant
BPO crowd too.
But if you don’t have a
car you will be stranded. Gurgaon’s public transport
system is worse than a dilapidated small town’s.
There are auto rickshaws which belch smoke and squeeze in at least 10 passengers. Private taxis charge exorbitant rates. Pavements are all broken and so it is a good idea to keep your orthopedic’s phone number handy to get that twisted ankle fixed. The lack of public transport affects young people who need to go to work, especially women. Not everybody is rich enough to afford a car. For some it could be their first job. There are also poorer people who have to commute to earn a daily wage and risk their lives on bicycles. Sachin Tilwale who works for E-valueserve, Sumit Poddar who is with TCS and Satish B from Hero Honda decided to do something about this abysmal state of affairs. “The city is expanding from Manesar to Dharuhera. It will be 100 sq km yet there is no plan for transport,” says Sachin in disbelief. They work as volunteers with an NGO, Association for India’s Development (AID). Sachin is from Mumbai, Sumit from Kolkata and Satish from Bangalore. “We are individually paying taxes in thousands of rupees to the government. We are all working professionals. At least we should get some safe public transport from the state government,” says Satish. “We have been asking all the higher authorities wherever we go if they have any transport plan for Gurgaon,” says Sachin.
“The transport commission in Chandigarh told us they have yet to receive it. We asked Mr Arya, GM, Transport Haryana Roadways, the SDM and we have now met the DC. Our question is simple. Gurgaon is growing rapidly you must be having some plan like Delhi has DTC and the metro, so Gurgaon too should have a plan for public transport.” Arya told them he has a proposal and he would give them a copy. He asked for Sachin’s RTI application. “We filed it three weeks ago and he has yet not responded. The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) replied with a terse, ‘This information is not concerned to this office.’ But the duty of the RTA, if information is not available, is to pass it to the right authority and inform the person who has applied for it,” says Sachin. The questions they have asked are simple. How much has been allotted by way of budget for a public transport system in Gurgaon in the last three years? How much money has the government spent on improving or introducing public transport in Gurgaon? What is the criterion for introducing a proper bus service in the city?
“There must be some money allotted for transport but they are not willing to share this information with the public,” says Sachin. The three young men believe the government’s silence points to the ruth. There is no plan. Being practical and realistic they are proposing a commission consisting of HUDA, transport authorities, RWAs, NGOs, senior citizens to make a plan. “We can all get together and give a proposal,” says the untiring Sachin. “We can start with what is the current transport in the city? What are the needs of the city in the next 20, or 30 years? We can then give it to the authorities to submit it to Chandigarh. We can put pressure, run a campaign.”
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