Odd-even scheme to apply to non-Delhi vehicles too: Delhi govt Health minister Satyendar Jain added that the rule will not apply to two-wheelers.
Written by MAYURA JANWALKAR
Public works department and health minister Satyendar Jain Monday said the Delhi government’s decision to let odd and even number vehicles ply on alternate days will apply to private cars coming into Delhi from outside as well.
Jain added that the rule will not apply to two-wheelers. The minister is heading the government’s steering committee that will work on the recently announced pollution control measures – including the odd-even vehicle scheme.
“There were two suggestions. One was that odd numbers would ply on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while even numbers would ply on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; everyone would be allowed to ply on Sunday. The other suggestion was that odd numbers would ply on odd dates and vice-versa. But some people felt there should be at least one day when everybody is allowed to ply. Also date-wise, 31st would be followed by 1st. Hence, it would be two consecutive days of odd number operations. Most people felt that the first option was better,” said Jain.
Government sources said that in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday, discussions were held on whether the odd and even number operations should be applied round-the-clock or during peak hours. While the government has broadly decided to implement the rule for two weeks, the exact duration has not finalised, said sources.
Ministers and senior government officials deliberated on whether exemptions should be granted once the rule is enforced. While emergency cases may be considered an exception, officials are concerned that the exemption may be misused.
Encouraging car-pools was also an idea that prompted the government to take radical pollution control measures. “If the Chief Justice of India can carpool, why not others? Delhi ministers will have to car pool. There is no choice,” said Jain.
“We discussed whether a car carrying four or five passengers should be allowed to ply, irrespective of the number plate, as …the car would be utilised to its optimum capacity. These were some of the ideas that were floated,” said a source.
Jain said public transport, including DTC buses and the Delhi Metro, will have to up their operations by 20 per cent to cater to the increased load. “We will be able to provide more than the necessary alternative means of transport. A 20 per cent increase in their operations – in the number of trips made by buses, more drivers and increase in the working hours of the Metro – will make this possible,” he said.
The minister said it was “unfortunate” that the police commissioner had dismissed the idea of implementing the odd-even number code. “Making the law and implementing it are two different things. Delhi police is not the government. It is an arm of the government. The job of police is to implement the law made by the government. We will take them into consultation and explain everything to him,” said Jain.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal sought an appointment with union home minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the implementation of the pollution control measures announced by his government.
ECONOMIC TIMES, DEC 9, 2015
Odd-even scheme to be in force from 8 am to 8 pm on workdays; DPCC to measure air samples
NEW DELHI: Pressing ahead with its plan to ban the plying of private vehicles with odd and even registration numbers on alternate days, the Delhi government said the curbs will be applicable from 8 am to 8 pm on working days from January 1. The restrictions won't be enforced on Sundays.
Briefing reporters after a marathon meeting with the traffic police, ministers and government officials, Transport Minister Gopal Rai said cars will be allowed to ply depending on the date — odd registration numbers on odd dates and even registration numbers on even dates. On the launch day, January 1, only cars with odd numbers will be permitted.
Adecision on groups to be exempted from the ban will be taken at a review meeting on December 10. "All concerned departments and Cabinet ministers had a joint meeting to review our preparations," Rai said at the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday evening. Before December 25, the joint team will present the blueprint to the people to address all concerns.
The government decided that the odd/even campaign would run from January 1-15 in the first phase, after which there will be a review and based on that, "the government will decide future strategy".
People can take their cars out before 8 am and after 8 pm, but during these hours, the "even/odd system will be in force".
Rai said it had been decided to go by the date of the month to determine which vehicles will be allowed to ply, rather than the previous idea of following the system of days of the week. "The feedback we received from many places was that remembering days will be difficult," Rai explained. On dates ending in 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, odd-numbered vehicles will run, and on dates ending in 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8, even-numbered cars will be allowed.
The ban is being introduced in an attempt to reduce high levels of pollution in the Capital. To assess the impact of the restrictions, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee will measure air samples from 200 places. "We will display the rise and fall in air pollution levels in different places," the transport minister said.
To enforce the ban, about 1,000 civil defence volunteers will be taken on board. The public transport system will be supplemented to encourage people not to use cars. More than 2.6 million private cars were registered in the Capital as of March 31, according to the Delhi transport department website.
"Nine-thousand CNG buses which run in schools will be brought on the roads during this period to add to the public transport system," Rai said. Another 1,000 dedicated buses under the Delhi Transport Corporation's "cluster scheme" will be added in the next three months.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a meeting on December 10 to review the preparations for the fortnight-long campaign, Rai said. "Based on feedback reports from other departments, at the December 10 review meeting we will decide whether to exempt some groups or not," he added.
Other measures to curb pollution, such as the closure of Badarpur thermal power plant and the mechanical cleaning of streets are being fine-tuned, he said. The review meeting on Tuesday was attended by all ministers and stakeholders, including the Delhi Traffic Police and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, senior officials of the government and the Delhi Dialogue Commission.
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
TELEGRAPH, DEC 9, 2015
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Clean and private
- The Clean India campaign should be taken seriously
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COMMENTARAO: S.L. Rao
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India has inherited some strange practices. For example, a menstruating woman is still considered by many to be unclean and forbidden to enter temples, kitchens and pujarooms. This is so particularly in south India. Earlier, she was banished during her period to the backyard of the house which was also the place for open or closed defecation. Homes are kept spotlessly clean but all garbage is thrown out by many into the open. Private hygiene goes along with public squalor.
Open defecation has been the practice in both urban and rural areas. It has declined in most urban areas, especially in metropolitan towns, but not vanished. Most rural households do not have private toilets. But household surveys show that Indian households own more mobile phones in total than they have closed toilets.
To state the obvious, open defecation has many consequences. It destroys privacy. It restricts women to hold back till there is darkness and - for security - the company of other women. Open defecation spreads disease, especially diarrhoea, as excrement leaches into groundwater. Closed door defecation, good sewerage and drainage systems, regular garbage disposal and safe drinking water are essential as indicators of a cleaner environment and a more civic and developed society. India is among the most backward in these respects.
The emphasis of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, on a clean India - " swachh Bharat" - as a national campaign must not be politicized; it should be welcomed. Political criticism of the programme and its implementation is not only misplaced. It is wrong. Girl students in a Bangalore college made this clear recently to an important politician. The programme must be supported by all.
The 69th National Sample survey (2012) shows that over the last few decades, there has been progress. The data quoted here relates to the period, July 2012 to December 2012. The survey covered the whole of the Indian Union. The central sample was of 4,475 villages in rural areas and 3,522 urban blocks spread over all states and Union territories. The total number of households surveyed was 95,548, (53,393 in rural areas and 42,155 in urban areas).
About 88.5 per cent households in rural India had an improved source of drinking water while the corresponding figure was 95.3 percent in urban India.
Among rural households, 85.8 per cent had sufficient drinking water and for urban India the corresponding figure was 89.6 per cent. The percentage of households which got drinking water within their premises was 46.1 per cent in rural India and 76.8 per cent in urban India.
About 62.3 per cent of rural households and 16.7 per cent of urban households did not have any bathroom facility while 59.4 per cent and 8.8 per cent households in rural India and urban India respectively had no latrine facilities.
Among the households having latrine facilities, 31.9 per cent and 63.9 per cent households in rural India and urban India respectively had access to its exclusive use. About 38.8 per cent and 89.6 per cent households in rural and urban India respectively, had access to an 'improved' type of latrine and 80 per cent of rural households and 97.9 per cent of urban households had electricity for domestic use. Only 26.3 per cent and 47.1 per cent households in rural India and urban India respectively had dwelling units with 'good ventilation' while 31.7 per cent of rural households and 82.5 per cent of urban households had 'improved drainage' facilities in the environment of their dwelling units. In rural India 32 per cent households had some garbage disposal arrangement, whereas in urban areas the corresponding figure was 75.8 per cent.
This brief statistical description shows that many millions of Indians live in poor and unhygienic conditions. The duty of a good government is to improve their living conditions. Apart from funds and proper implementation, what are the requirements to correct the situation?
There must be an overarching determination at all levels that the situation must be speedily corrected. The 'beneficiaries' must accept the need for change. There must be a coordinated plan and implementing agencies should be monitored for completion on time and for quality.
There is a perception that many Indians prefer open defecation to privacy. How else do we explain the preference for television set ownership or for cell phones over having private latrines? Whatever the preferences might be, it is essential that a programme of education be launched to teach everyone of the importance to them and their families of avoiding open defecation. Providing financial support to households and imposing penalties on those who do not comply might help.
Women are perhaps easier persuaded of the need since they suffer debilitating gynaecological illnesses because of having to wait for hours to relieve themselves.
There is already a programme to urgently ensure that all schools have toilets. This is essential for the health of children, especially girls. It is also an incentive for parents to send girl children to school since they will have privacy in these personal tasks.
Building toilets in schools and homes is not enough. They have to be kept clean. There must also be adequate water available for users to wash after using the toilet. In homes, the Gandhian principle that cleaning their toilets is everyone's task, has to be inculcated. This also calls for a great deal of unlearning of old prejudices.
Ensuring water at all times in toilets at home, in schools and community toilets, is a great challenge. This is especially so in hot summers and in dry lands. Rainwater harvesting might help by collecting water. It may not be enough. Other methods must be found to have some water always available.
A major challenge is toilet design. It must suit the topography and climate of the area. Excrement can be collected in septic tanks and converted to fertilizer. This is a significant additional cost.
Alternatively there must be drainage that will take it away to places where it is treated for conversion to productive use, or flushed into the sea. A drainage system is part of a community or town arrangement and requires considerable investment. Another possibility is to design toilets that have microbes that break up the materials. These are capital cost intensive and also have a running cost. Both have to be provided for.
A Swachh Bharat programme cannot stop at sanitation. It must include drainage and garbage collection, removal, treatment and disposal. These are municipal issues. In India, in almost every part, these are subject to poor management, lack of planning and coordination, and huge corruption. They are also state and municipal subjects under the law. To get a swachh Bharat all these levels of government must work together. There is no sign that attention is being paid to this aspect. A Clean India is not as simple to achieve as it sounds. It has to have a combination of psychological methods to change people's attitudes; technologies to achieve suitable toilet designs (for homes, schools and communities); well-thought-out arrangements for keeping them clean; water specialists to arrange water availability in different topographies and climates; garbage management, and public governance to ensure coordinated actions on all fronts.
The government must work on these aspects if this programme is not to waste the vast sums it has on projects like cleaning the Ganga.
The author is former director-general, National Council of Applied Economic Research
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BUSINESS STANDARD, DEC 11, 2015
Only 10 smart cities may get funds from Centre this year Most BJP-ruled states are ready with their city development plans Nivedita Mookerji
States rush to meet Smart City deadline; Kerala, J&K seek more timeRae Bareli and Meerut vie for Smart City tagSmart cities or smart pilots?Local bodies can't be ignored in schemes for urban housing, infrastructureNBCC surges as government launches Smart City mission
The National Democratic Alliance government is getting ready to scale down the size and speed of its signature Smart City Mission, if the need arises. Not keen to delay the project, the Centre may fund only 10 cities, instead of the proposed 20, in the first year, if proposals don’t match quality yardsticks.
The idea is to not slip on the target date (January 26) for announcing the first list of smart cities, a segment that could mean a long-term opportunity of $50 billion in India.
December 15 is the cut-off date to be eligible for the Centre’s funds. If states submit “inadequate or incomplete” area development plans to the urban development ministry by then, the number of cities to be picked up for the first round would be lower, a source in the government told Business Standard. “The government is sure of at least 10 quality proposals, though it would like to start with 20,” the source said.
Most BJP-ruled states are ready with their city development plans, according to an official in the urban development ministry.
The states that are expected to submit “quality” proposals by the due date include Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
The Delhi government could also submit its plan because it’s meant only for the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area, a small part of the city. Telangana and Chhattisgarh are among the others that are seen as “serious” with their planning, and could end up submitting good proposals, officials said.
The cities which could make it to the first list include Pune, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Vizag, Jaipur, Udaipur, Surat, Bhopal and NDMC area of Delhi, people tracking the process said.
O f the 100 cities (98 have been shortlisted till now), 20 were scheduled to get funding in 2015-16. The Centre would spend Rs 500 crore on each city, in phases, while the remaining amount is to come from states, urban bodies and private partners.
A few months ago the Cabinet had cleared Rs 50,000 crore for the project and another Rs 48,000 crore for AMRUT (another city rejuvenation plan) — both schemes were part of the election plank of NDA last year.
Many of the states are going slow on their smart city plans because of the push and pull between greenfield, or new projects, and brownfield, or retrofitting projects, sectoral experts pointed out. The recent Chennai floods may also have delayed the plans of some states.
Estimates suggest that building a new smart city with one-million population would cost Rs 20,000 crore a year for the next 10-15 years. Building on existing cities would be cheaper, depending on the nature of retrofitting work required. But once a brownfiled plan is selected, it is hard to go back to a greenfield one, experts say.
The minimum area under a greenfield project is 250 acres and that for brownfield is 500. Any redevelopment has to be done on an area of more than 50 acres. Though the guidelines permit both plans in “contiguous” areas, the interpretation lacks clarity, some state government representatives have said. “Opportunities will lie in the cities that don’t make it to the first list as everything will go back to the drawing board for them,” said Pratap Padode, founder and director at Smart Cities Council India. That will be the real churn of urban planning, as these states correct the situation after the first cut-off is over, he pointed out.
The 98 probable cities were picked up through a ‘City Challenge’. But, the names will change as the competition moves from one round to another. More than 15 countries have collaborated with Indian cities in some manner so far.
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