HC hears NGO plan for curbs on traffic in city……….Shibu Thomas I TNN
Mumbai: London plans to do it in 2012 when it hosts the Olympics, while Beijing, Mexico City, Athens and Sao Paulo already have schemes to ration out scarce road space. A seven-year-old proposal for a similar traffic restraint scheme for Mumbai city—which adds 400 new vehicles on its roads every day— has now come up before Bombay high court.
A division bench of Justice J N Patel and Justice K A Tated on Wednesday scheduled the issue for hearing on August 6.
Spearheading the demand for implementation of the traffic restraint scheme is the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG), a nongovernment organisation which has filed a public interest litigation for checking the alarming levels of pollution in the city.
According to 2007 figures, there are over 14 lakh vehicles on the city’s roads, with the numbers likely to jump to 16 lakh by 2011. This, however, does not take into account the cheaper cars that will hit the roads in the coming years.
“Cities around the world have seen a marked difference after implementing traffic restraint schemes, in both reducing traffic congestion and combating pollution levels,’’ said advocate Shiraz Rustomjee, counsel for BEAG.
The scheme the NGO is pitching for was first proposed by a committee headed by then transport commissioner V M Lal, which had come up with “100 ways to reduce Mumbai’s vehicular pollution’’.
One of Lal’s recommendations was the traffic restraint scheme. Under the proposed scheme, which would be applicable during peak hours, vehicles with number plates ending with numbers 1 and 2 would be barred entry into the island city on Mondays, number plates ending with numbers 3 and 4 will be restricted entry on Tuesdays, 5 and 6 on Wednesdays, 7 and 8 on Thursdays and 9 and 0 on Fridays. Government and police vehicles, ambulances and emergency vehicles would be exempt from the ban.
The state, however, has already dug its heels and told the court that a committee—headed by former director general of police P S Pasricha—had termed the scheme as not feasible. Government counsel S K Nair said, “Unless the public transport system is strengthened, it would be impossible to implement the scheme,’’ said the advocate. He said that before the scheme could take off, BEST would have to fulfil its assurance to deploy 500 air-conditioned buses in the city, as well as the proposal to bar entry of heavy vehicles at Mahim and Sion would have to be implemented.
BEAG, though, is not likely to back off. It was the same PIL, seeking implementation of the Lal committee’s other recommendations to tackle polluting public transport vehicles that ensured that over 20,000 old polluting trucks, 55,000 taxis and over one lakh autos were forced to either phase out or switch to cleaner fuel like CNG.
THE WORLD OVER
* London has a congestion tax and plans to make the city car-free when it hosts the Olympics in 2012
THE WORLD OVER
* London has a congestion tax and plans to make the city car-free when it hosts the Olympics in 2012
* Restricting entry of vehicles based on number plates has been implemented in Athens (1982), Mexico City (1989) and Sao Paulo (1997)
* Beijing implemented a temporary traffic restraint scheme in July to improve air quality in the city during the 2008 Summer Olympics
* Singapore and Stockholm have congestion taxes on vehicles