Airport Metro launches 30-trip pass, lowers cost of travel
June 5, 2013
PTI
(Delhi Airport Express Metro today launched a new 30-trip monthly pass for commuters which will reduce the fare by around 33 per cent compared to the single journey fare)
NEW DELHI: Delhi Airport Express Metro on Friday launched a new 30-trip monthly pass for commuters which will reduce the fare by more than half compared to the single journey fare.
The new 30-trip monthly passes would cost between Rs 400 and Rs 2,000 for 30 trips, depending upon boarding and alighting stations of the passenger. The 30-day trip pass has been launched following complaints from commuters against the 45-day and 60-day passes and will reduce the fare per trip by 64 per cent.
“We had received feedback from commuters who were worried about trips getting wasted at the end of the month due to holidays, weekly-offs, vacations. So, we thought of the 30- trip monthly pass as a tool to counter all such worries,” a Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) spokesperson said.
“The new 30 trip monthly pass would cost between Rs 400 to Rs 2000 for 30 trips, depending upon boarding and alighting stations of the passenger. Commuters can not only save on their overall monthly expense, but also minimise their trips wastage,” he said.
Apart from single journey tickets, DAMEPL offers various smart card options like stored value card and monthly passes for its valued customers.
Till date, monthly passes were available in the denominations of 45 trips and 60 trips. While a 45-trip pass costs between Rs 500 and Rs 2,500, a 60-trip pass is priced between Rs 600 to Rs 3000.
“Residents of Gurgaon, Mahipalpur, Vasant Kunj can use the metro to travel to and from New Delhi railway station from Aerocity Station in about 16 minutes,” the spokesperson said.
Source-http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
10 Metro stations will get space to walk, park
June 5, 2013
TNN |
NEW DELHI: With accessibility to Metro stations becoming a problem due to poor infrastructure outside the stations, Delhi Traffic Police, public works department and Delhi Metro have identified 10 Metro stations which need retrofitting. This will include segregated pedestrian walkways, auto routes, parking points .
Sources said the Metro stations include Central Secretariat, Malviya Nagar, Karol Bagh and GTB Nagar. Different civic agencies will be involved in it. “The main problem is that of accessibility.. Different road users need to have streamlined lanes,” said a source.
Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
New Metro stations to have designated vehicle zones
May 21, 2013
Subhendu Ray, Hindustan Times New Delhi,
In a bid to reduce vehicular chaos, all new Metro stations coming up under phase III will have separate slots for four wheelers, autos and buses in their premises.
While some existing stations are currently on roads or just beside roads such as Laxmi Nagar, Preet Vihar and Nirman Vihar among others, a major number of those in Phase III will come up on the city’s busy Ring Road and Outer Ring Road.
“We have plans to create drop-off pnsoints at all 91 metro stations to be built in phase III. The provision for drop-off points will depend on the availability of land,” said a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson.
The Delhi traffic police had in February approached DMRC to ensure halt-and-go facilities for auto-rickshaws on the station premises so that commuters, especially women, do not have to come out to board vehicles.
“This arrangement will make sure roads along metro stations are not decongested by rickshaws, autos and buses that pick and drop passengers. Besides, this will ensure smooth and safe shift of commuters from one mode of transport to another,” said Ashok Bhattacharya, director, UTTIPEC, which has proposed a multimodal integration at 68 metro stations in phase 3.
Additional commissioner of police (traffic), Anil Shukla said dedicated drop-off points for auto-rickshaws and other transport vehicles inside the station premises will provide better and safer last-mile connectivity to women commuters.
The traffic police had asked DMRC to explore possibilities for similar arrangements at all existing busy metro stations, wherever possible, to ease traffic woes for commuters.
Source_http://www.hindustantimes.com
Centre will soon allow 100% stake in BOT projects
May 20, 2013
Infrastructure developer IVRCL Limited is going slow on its proposal to monetise three more build, operate and transfer projects in the light of expectations that the Union government will soon take a decision to allow 100 per cent stake sale in BOT projects. “It is just a matter of procedure. The decision will come soon as everybody, including the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India), is in favour of it,” IVRCL chairman and managing director, E Sudhir Reddy, told Business Standard. At present, the Centre allows only 74 per cent stake sale in BOT projects.
Reddy said IVRCL would expedite the process of selling more projects after Centre’s decision in this regard. The Hyderabad-based company recently sold three BOT projects – Salem Tollway, Kumarapalayam Tollway and IVRCL Chengapally Tollway – to the Tata group firm TRIL Roads Private Limited. The stake sale is yet to be approved by the NHAI and institutional lenders. The projects have been reportedly executed at a cost of Rs 2,200 crore and nearly two-thirds of this money had been lent by banks.
Reddy, however, said banks approving the stake sale should not be a problem as the projects were sold to a Tata group company, which has a good standing among the financial institutions. Last month, industry sources said, some of the operators of BOT projects hailing from Andhra Pradesh met the Prime Minister and apprised him of their problems.
More than the high interest rates, they were said to have told the Prime Minister that the rising cost of construction material due to sudden policy changes by state government was making development of BOT projects unviable.For instance, Reddy said, IVRCL was now securing sand from Jharkhand to execute a BOT project in Bihar as the Bihar government had banned sand mining in the state. There was also cost escalation on account of state governments delaying in execution of state-support agreement. These along with other factors were resulting in project costs spiralling by almost 15-20 per cent over the original estimates.
Besides, the developers had tendered for BOT projects assuming the GDP growth rate would be in double digits. With no such thing happening, only 5 per cent of the BOT projects in the country was now stated to be profitable.
Corporators lash out against parking mafia
May 14, 2013
Hindustan Times (Delhi)
HT Correspondent/ ht [email protected]
NORTH DELHI- Matter comes up in house meeting on Monday; members say parking mafia running amok at Gandhi Maidan and Parade Ground parking lots
Parking in north Delhi came under the corporation’s scanner on Monday as both the House and Opposition members lashed out against allegations of parking mafia overcharging commuters.
HT FILE PHOTO
Corporators raised the issue with Mayor Azad Singh in the House meeting on Monday, saying the parking mafia is running amok at various sites such as Gandhi Maidan and Parade Ground parking lots.
“When the monthly parking rate is R600, they are charging R800. This is how they are looting residents of north Delhi. When the corporation has not changed the parking fee, how can contractors overcharge,” leader of the Opposition in north corporation, Mukesh Goel, said.
When contacted, Sanjay Bhargava, general secretary of the Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal, said the contractor at Parade Ground parking has been charging R30 per entry as against R10 approved by the civic body.
“From Friday, the lot is charging R30 for surface parking. If anyone raises their voice, they are threatened and ordered not to park at the lot. They are also issuing parking slips of MCD with Jama Masjid printed as site of parking and not Parade Ground,” Bhargava said.
Municipal commissioner PK Gupta said showcause notices will be sent to parking contractors against whom the complaints have been filed. “Firsttime offenders will have to pay 25 per cent of their licence fee as fine, which will become 50 per cent the second time, 75 per cent the third time and 100 per cent the fourth time. If a contractor is found overcharging the fifth time, his licence will be cancelled,” Gupta said.
Leader of the House Mahinder Nagpal said these unscrupulous individuals needed to be dealt with stern action.
“We didn’t raise the parking charges thinking about the people. However, some people are doing exactly that. I had called three days back and asked the officials about this after a complaint came to me. The parking mafia won’t be tolerated,” Nagpal said.
Metro stations: New frisking booths for women
May 14, 2013
14th May,2013. Hindustan Times (Delhi)
Faizan Haider
NEW DELHI: Amid complaints of privacy by women commuters in Delhi Metro, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has finalised new frisking booths, which will be placed at Metro stations across the National Capital Region (NCR). CISF, which is responsible for the security of Metro stations, has suggested structural changes in the existing frisking booths to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). DMRC will be procuring these booths after the tendering process.
RAJESH KUMAR/HT PHOTO
We have been receiving complaints from women passengers for quite some time. One of the issues they had was people watching them when they were getting frisked. At many stations, there are temporary frisking booths and we have asked the DMRC to replace them,” said a senior CISF official, requesting anonymity.
“At a few stations there is not much space but we are working it out. Now every Metro station will have a booth of similar design unlike the current plan where they have separate booths for separate stations,” he added. Another issue, which was also raised by women commuters, was about their baggage getting stolen while they were being frisked. This too has been addressed.
The booths will have a gap at a place from where women can see their bags getting scanned. “Once the booths are installed, we will change the location of the baggage scanner. The space will be at the eye level and either at the right or left side wall of the booth. We hope women passengers will not have any other issues once the new booths are installed,” the CISF official added.
According to CISF, 50 per cent of Metro stations have this problem where frisking and screening of women passengers and their baggage are done at separate points. Over 20 lakh commuters travel by the Delhi Metro every day and 40 per cent of them are women..
41 parking projects planned but only 1 opened 10 Car Parks Scrapped, 13 Others Likely To Miss Construction Deadlines
May 4, 2013
Risha Chitlangia TNN
In the past 10 years, just three multilevel parkings – Sarojini Nagar, Baba Kharak Singh Marg and the stack parking at Sheila Cinema in Paharganj – providing space for about 2500 cars have come up in the city. According to a survey in 20 cities worldwide, Delhi is the worst place to park a car. With their parking projects stuck, the civic agencies and Delhi government are devising ways to discourage car users. From hiking parking rates to imposing a congestion tax, various options have been explored even as the public transport system, which can actually make a difference, remains quite inadequate and unreliable.
Despite the hike in parking rates, Delhiites say the use of private vehicles will not go down. “It is a lot cheaper and convenient to use your own car. Autos don’t ply by the meter and buses are overcrowded. How do you expect people to use public transport? Before hiking parking charges, the government should put a robust and affordable public transport system in place,’’ said Manish Khanna, a businessman.
Of the 41 parking projects, 13 are under construction. North and South corporations claim that five parking lots will be made operational by mid-June but it would be better to take this with a pinch of salt. The parking lots at Hauz Khas and Parade Ground, which were inaugurated with much fanfare last year, are yet to be made operational. South Corporation officials attribute the delay to other government agencies. “It takes a lot of time to get permission from various government agencies like forest, ASI, DDA, DJB, DUAC etc. The contractors are also to be blamed. We will impose a penalty on the contractors once the work is over,’’ said an official.
“A lot of planned parking projects had to be scrapped as EPCA refused to give permission to construct parking lots underneath parks,” said Manish Gupta, commissioner, South Corporation. “We are looking for new sites where parking lots can be constructed. We have written to DDA but we are yet to hear from them. Another reason for the delay in parking projects, especially the ones under JNNURM, is that the government had asked used to get the work done on parking projects vetted by an independent agency. It took a lot of time to hire an independent agency as the guidelines regarding the appointment of such an agency were changed several times.’’
Multiple agencies are looking into the parking issue. Environmentalists have been vociferously pushing for inconveniencing car users. Based on the recommendations of Delhi high court-appointed special task force (STF) and environment pollution control authority (EPCA), the Delhi government approved a hike in parking charges and NDMC is all set to implement it from June 1. But the three municipal corporations, which are led by the BJP, have decided not to implement the hike with the assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year.
But the corporations are doing precious little to rein in the parking contractors who are fleecing people, especially at markets. There are just 300-odd authorized surface-level parking sites in the city. A majority are being run illegally but the corporation is unable to take action. “The construction of a multilevel parking at Kamla Nagar market has been going on for the past six years. Due to the construction work, shoppers are forced to park on main roads. Now, the traffic police are issuing challans. Where should people park their vehicles,” asks Naresh Sambher, president of the market association.
The political wing of the three corporations is clueless. “We are trying to complete the projects, but post-trifurcation, it has become difficult for us to fund them,’’ said Mahinder Nagpal, leader of the house, North Corporation.
RENOVATION NDMC has set a fresh deadline of June 25, but structural issues need to be dealt with
April 12, 2013
After missing several deadlines the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has now claimed that it will finish the entire renovation work by June 25.
Experts, however, have rubbished the deadline, saying it is not realistic as there are a number of structural issues that need to be dealt with first. Delhi chief secretary D M Spolia took stock of the ongoing work on Tuesday with the NDMC chairperson, Engineers India Limited officials and traders.
Officials told the chief secretary that as escalators for the subways will come in June from China, work will be completed only by that time.
“The matter was discussed and the civic agency was asked to set a deadline, which would be met. The civic agency and EIL has assured us that they will finish all the work, including the subways, by June 25. The service development work will be completed much before that,” said a senior Delhi government official.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had directed the chief secretary to visit the market to assess the amount of work that needs to be done as traders’ have suffered huge losses due to the work.
“The remaining work cannot be completed in three months. They have not even finished the structural work yet, how can they complete the entire market so soon? So many deadlines have been set and not met. This too seems like a tall order,” said an architect requesting anonymity.
The New Delhi Traders’ Association (NDTA) said that EIL seemed more confident about finishing the service development work and hoping to meet the deadline.
“Traders were present during the inspection. EIL officials promised to stick to the deadline. They have said they will start removing the construction and demolition waste so that pedestrians do not face any difficulty. We hope work will be finished soon,” said Atul Bhargava, president of NDTA.
The restoration work has been going on for the past four years. For the five existing subways that were being remodelled, the civic agency is yet to install ramps and escalators.
According to NDMC officials, the construction of the utility duct in the Middle Circle will require more time. Service lines such as those of telephone and electricity lines will go underground in this duct.
Source- www.hindustantimes.com
Delhi: Sheila Dikshit slams civic body for Connaught Place mess
April 9, 2013
Delhi: Sheila Dikshit slams civic body for Connaught Place mess
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times New Delhi, April 09, 2013
(Haphazard construction in the middle circle of Connaught Place has made traders unhappy. Traders claim sales of shops in middle circle and radial roads have come down drastically because of the unending construction in the area. Raj K Raj/HT Photo)
Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday thrashed civic officials for the tardy pace of restoration work at Connaught Place.
“I am not confident of their meeting the April deadline, which is why I have asked the chief secretary and the NDMC chairperson to visit the market and assess what needs to be done,” Dikshit told reporters.
Sources claimed: “After missing several deadlines, the NDMC had decided to fast-track work and complete it by June this year. But none of the officials were certain if even this deadline would be met.”
Sources said the government is considering slapping a financial penalty on EIL for not finishing the project despite extensions.
Get traffic news on your smart phone
April 8, 2013
Get traffic news on your smart phone
Subhendu Ray, Hindustan Times New Delhi, April 07, 2013
Real time updates on the traffic situation of the city will soon be at the fingertips of smart phone users.
Delhi Traffic Police, after the major success of its SMS updates informing about the congestion on roads, has now decided to come up with a smart phone software on the lines of those used in cities of the US and the UK.
The traffic police, which also provides updates to the residents through its Facebook and Twitter accounts, will introduce the software in an attempt to what it believes is keeping pace with changing times in a smart way.“We are soon going to introduce a software-based mobile application to give real time traffic related information to the road users,” said Sudhir Yadav, special commissioner of police (traffic).
However, officers said, they would later on update the application with other new features such as public transport fare for a particular distance travelled.“The offline application would also have an interactive map for the convenience of the traffic,” a police officer claimed.
Sources said the said application would be available in Iphone, BlackBerry, Android and all Windows-based phones. Once this app is installed, users would be able to access traffic reports of particular areas and know about roads in their neighbourhood, workplace or to any part of the city that they are visiting.
Traffic cops believe that with the introduction of the application, not only the regular city commuters but also those who visit the city from outside.The traffic police had discontinued their popular SMS service a few months ago reportedly due to a revision in the TRAI tariff structure.
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