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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Delhi learns to live with Bus Rapid Transit

The long wait at traffic intersections is still there and so are the jaywalkers and lane jumpers but the madness and chaos is now conspicuously missing. Three months after it was made operational, things seem to be finally falling into place at the much-criticised 5.8 km-long Bus Rapid Transit corridor.

The opening of the BRT corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand on April 21 had unleashed utter chaos and congestion on the once smooth road. Tempers were frayed and scuffles became common as motorists had to wait up to 40 minutes to cross the Chirag Dilli crossing. The scene was similar at intersections like Archana, Saket and Pushpa Vihar. The traffic signals were not working and the pile-up of cars were a kilometer long and lane jumping was rampant.

Three months down the line, Hindustan Times went back to the stretch and found out traffic on the corridor has finally stabilized and motorists, cursing the new system till sometime ago, have now made their peace with it.

The changes

The first visible change at the corridor is the scrupulous lane discipline being displayed by motorists. In three hours HT spent at the corridor, not even one car or two-wheeler jumped into the nearly empty bus lane. More importantly, the waiting time at the traffic intersections has come down to a good extent. The constantly malfunctioning traffic signaling system of the corridor too is working efficiently now with separate signals for motorized vehicles, cycles and buses.

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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Sonia takes centrestage

Consensus building within the UPA on the India-US nuclear deal in defiance of the Left and at the risk of early elections is proving to be difficult even with Sonia Gandhi taking centrestage to resolve the vexed issue.

The UPA leaders who drove down to 10 Janpath on Monday included NCP's Sharad Pawar, RJD's Lalu Yaday and LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan. Pawar was later closeted at his residence with CPM general secretary Prakash Karat for over an hour.

Coupled with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's vigorous defence of the deal, the outcome of Sonia's meetings with the UPA allies made doubly difficult her task of blending national interest with the political interests of the coalition she presides over.

In separate interactions with Sonia, the allies backed the deal but advocated a dialogue with the Left to avoid early elections. Weighing heavily on their minds were the rising prices, without controlling which they saw little prospects in the polls.

To read the full article, click here...
To read the ePaper, visit: http://epaper.hindustantimes.com

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