A Parliamentary panel will seek a report from the Road Transport and Highways Ministry on the recent Volvo bus accidents in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka that killed over 50 persons.

“Are there something in Indian conditions that Volvo has not taken into account or is there something wrong in the manner in which our people are operating these buses? These have to be seriously considered. The committee will enquire into it,” Sitram Yechury, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, told reporters here.

“We will seek a report from the Road Transport and Highways Ministry and try to find out what went wrong as from what we understand these buses have been built to international standards of safety and technical requirements,” he added.

In the first accident at Mahbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh, 45 passengers were charred to death on October 30 as a Volvo bus burst into flames after its fuel tank caught fire.

The accident occurred when the diesel tank of the Hyderabad-bound bus from Bangalore hit against a culvert. The entire bus was engulfed in flames in a matter of minutes.

In the second incident on November 14, seven passengers were killed and 40 injured when a Mumbai-bound bus from Bangalore caught fire after hitting a road median at Haveri in Karnataka .

“We don’t understand, whether it is a new technically advanced thing that the Volvo is producing or something is wrong. We will ask the Ministry for certain clarifications and make our recommendations,” Yechury said.

He also questioned road designs and planning. “In one of our reports, we have very strongly criticised that the government is not adhering to technical aspects of road building. We hope the Ministry will give its action taken report during the current session.”

Source-http://www.dnaindia.com

NAGPUR: The latest recommendations by a subcommittee of ministry of environment and forests ( MoEF) on roads in protected areas (PAs) may spark more trouble for road widening by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on NH-6 near Navegaon National Park and Mansinghdeo Wildlife Sanctuary on NH-7.

A six-member subcommittee headed by M K Ranjitsinh, member, NBWL, on September 28, has recommended to the MoEF that the status quo of the roads passing through national parks and tiger reserves shall remain the same.

The roads could be maintained and repaired in the best manner possible in their current form and present width. No widening or upgradation is to be allowed. If it is an existing tarred road, it shall be maintained as such and no widening of the tarred surface or the widening of the road itself, may be done.

More importantly, the guidelines will also be applicable for roads approaching or passing by national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves that are within a radius of 1km thereof, or within the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ), whichever of the two is lesser.

Wildlife experts say the recommendation will make matters worse for NHAI but will benefit wildlife, especially on NH7 and NH6, where four-laning cuts tiger corridor between Pench, Kanha, Nagzira, Navegaon and Tadoba and vice versa. On NH6, Navegaon National Park and New Navegaon Sanctuary are within 1km in certain patches. Similar is the case with Mansinghdeo on NH7.

The NHAI has submitted a formal proposal to Pench Tiger Reserve to seek wildlife clearance for road widening in patches which passes by Mansinghdeo, which is contiguous to Pench. This is after Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) clearance, which has asked NHAI to seek final clearance from NBWL. However, the latest recommendations will make it tough to get wildlife clearance as road widening in some patches virtually touches the sanctuary boundary.

Talking to TOI, Ranjitsinh said, “When you widen roads around a PA, construction activity not only disturbs the movement of wild animals but destroys its corridors. There are Supreme Court orders on restriction to radius roads passing PAs.”

On the impact of new guidelines, Ranjitsinh said, “I don’t know to what extent the guidelines will affect NH7 and NH6. We don’t say don’t develop the roads but the damage should be evaluated.”

Another member on the MoEF subcommittee said, “The new guidelines will affect four-laning on NH7 and NH6. The recommendations have come from NBWL subcommittee, and when the NHAI proposal comes before it, how will it be able to defy its own guidelines. The Pench corridor is already fragmented. Four-laning will further damage it and break forest contiguity.”

The committee was constituted by the MoEF on June 26 to frame comprehensive guidelines for construction and repair roads passing through PAs in the country.

Fundamental principles

* Principle of avoidance: The foremost option would be to altogether avoid areas that are within or in the vicinity of any PA and to find alternatives that are socially & ecologically more appropriate,

* Principle of realignment: Road projects must investigate and demonstrate that they have considered other alternative routes that avoid natural areas of high ecological value. This must be an integral feature of a project proposal and implementation documents. Realignments must also be developed in a transparent manner through consultation with local communities and wildlife considerations,

* Principle of restoration: In natural areas, existing roads that are in disuse, or evaluated to be inefficient or detrimental to their objects, shall be targeted for decommissioning and subsequent ecological restoration, as the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.

BANGALORE: The public private partnership(PPP) arrangement for levying tolls on major highways in the state has hit a roadblock with no private company bidding for the project.

While low traffic volume due to ban on mining is the main reason, the high interest rate sought by financial institutions has also discouraged toll operators.

User fee for roads was proposed when mining was at its peak. The toll revenue was meant for upkeep of roads used by mining companies to transport iron ore to ports. “Now, the state government plans to develop and maintain these roads until mining resumes. The National Highways Authority of India has all weather-roads, and toll is charged on most,” a senior official in the public works department told TOI.

The government also wanted to provide better infrastructure to industrialists who had raised the issue of bad roads at two Global Investors’ Meets. As more than 60% of the investment promises were committed for North Karnataka, more highways in that region were chosen for imposing a toll.

Of the 12 highways opened for toll, only four have attracted bids. The toll operation in the 141-km Vagdhari-Ripponpalli stretch connecting Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh near Gulbarga has already started.

Companies have evinced interest in three highways – Dharwad-Alnavara-Ramanagara (SH-34, 60km), Chikkanayakamahalli-Tipatur-Hassan (SH-71, 74km) and Ginigere-Gangavathi-Sindhanur (SH-23, 83km).

Though Section 194 of the Karnataka State Highways Act, 1964, empowers the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd to collect a user fee, no government has dared to toll roads over the past 48 years as they fear a political backlash.

“In the past six years, nearly 2,000km of state highways have been completed by KRDCL at a cost of nearly Rs 3,000 crore, primarily with loans from the World Bank and Hudco. The government has to repay the loans with interest and therefore found it necessary to levy a user fee,” the official said.

Toll roads

Kalmala-Shiggaon (SH-23): 77km

Hattigudur-Humnabad (SH-19): 96km

Sankeshwar-Sangam (SH-44): 73km

Aurad-Sadashivagarh (SH-34): 56km

Raichur-Bachi (SH-20): 175km

Hiriyur-Bellary (SH-19): 142km

Bagalkot-Biligiriranganabetta (SH-57): 12km

Sindagi-Kondagal (SH-16): 94km

(SH: State Highway)

However, there were some motorists who continued to use the road below as they were unaware that the flyover was finally open to the public. This resulted in a major jam on Tuesday evening.

”We didn’t know that the flyover was open for commuters. It was only after we reached the end of the road that we noticed vehicles zipping down from the flyover. We will have to wait till tomorrow to experience driving on the flyover,” said a couple who were driving to their home at Manpada.

Lack of boards informing motorists about the opening of the flyover may be one of the reason why many took the road beneath. ”Several vehicles were still using the roads underneath the flyover, leading to traffic jam. We have asked the MSRDC to install boards informing motorists that the flyover has been thrown open for traffic,” said a traffic cop manning the junction.

Even though residents were excited about the opening of one arm, they are still awaiting the completion of the entire flyover. ”Once the work on the entire flyover is completed it will be a smooth ride for motorists. Since Monday, there has been less traffic snarls on this stretch. We hope the entire flyover is open soon,” said Ramakant Rane, who lives at Majiwada junction.

Earlier the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had stated that the entire flyover will be completed by March 2014. But now sources within the organization have claimed that it could take longer as work on the Ghodbunder Road-Mumbai arm may take more time as the officials are still awaiting an approval from the National Highways Authority of Indian (NHAI) for the construction on the Nashik highway.

Though, commuting agony may have eased by 40% at Majiwada now after opening up of one arm of the Kapurbawdi flyover, complete relief for Thane motorists is most likely to be a distant dream. Despite tall claims by the MSRDC to complete the entire flyover network by March 2014, sources within the organization inform that a vital stretch on the GB road-Mumbai arm will possibly delay the project as key approval from the NHAI for construction on the Nashik highway is still expected.

The implementing agency is in the line of fire of both the residents and elected representatives for the inordinate delay in completing the Rs 197 crore worth flyover network. The agency has missed several deadlines in the past with the latest being in June this year and every time it has cited some excuse or blamed other agencies for the delay. Though the Mumbai-Ghodbunder arm is ready, snarls may continue underneath the flyover for motorists, said traffic officials. “A notable volume of traffic at the junction and heading towards Ghodbunder comes from Mumbai and now that the arm is open for traffic, Mumbai-Ghodbunder-Ahmedabad bound vehicles wont use the junction beneath. We will now be in a better position to divert traffic coming from the city and Nashik towards Ghodbunder,” says a traffic official.

Experts said that the junction will be free of congestions only after the complete flyover is thrown open. Even chief minister Prithviraj Chavan who is known to have an acumen for engineering projects, on Monday during the inauguration, expressed his desire that all the arms of the network were to be completed together.

The bone of contention is the GB road-Mumbai arm that entails a loop design over the Nashik highway and an approval from the NHAI for the same. Activist Chandrahas Tawade who filed a query under the RTI rubbishes the possibility of MSRDC meeting the new deadline and alleges that it hasn’t secured any approval from the NHAI required for erecting pillars on the highway. “They are yet to get approvals for the same and this might easily delay the project,” he laments. Sameer Shah, a motorist on the stretch expressed his angst at the slow pace of the work. “This project will be remembered in the history of Thane for its innumerable deadlines and delays.”

An MSRDC official said official requesting anonymity on Monday confirmed that the agency is yet to get an approval from the NHAI but said they were confident of getting the same in the coming days.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Better-than-expected numbers for the quarter ended September have turned analysts positive on IRB Infrastructure Developers, among India’s largest road construction and operating companies.