NEW DELHI:  Delhiites are happiest with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) followed by the electricity department and unhappiest with the Delhi Police and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) among all the public services.This was revealed during focus group discussions done as part of a perception survey done for the Delhi Human Development Report 2013. In the survey, people were asked to rate their dealings with government officials of various departments with whom they came into frequent contact. In this rating, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and bus services were also given a decent rating.About 79% of respondents rated their interaction with DMRCpersonnel as good. Only about 10% said their interaction was good with Delhi Police and MCD, while over 40% actually rated their interaction with these agencies as poor. While women did not like the city’s transport system in general, they were appreciative of the Delhi metro.

When asked which was the most problematic service or issue, about a third of the respondents across all income categories rated sanitation services as the worst, though the concern was highest in the lower-income settlements. This was followed by water supply, which was rated the worst by a higher proportion of respondents in the three lowest income brackets indicating the problems faced by them with regard to availability of water in their localities. This revealed the wide disparities in the provisioning of basic services in terms of both quality and quantity. A sizeable proportion also rated bad roads and safety as problems in their areas.

Children cited lack of open spaces to play and quality of education and schools as their most pressing problems. For the elderly, the greatest concern was lack of pension and income security. The men surveyed disliked the city’s poor sanitation, open sewers and drains and water supply the most, while women listed safety, alcoholism and transport hassles as the things they disliked the most in Delhi.

The survey revealed that vulnerable sections like women, elderly, scheduled castes and the uneducated are more dissatisfied, which ties in with the survey showing how poorer localities and weaker sections are more deprived of basic services, safety and security.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: Insisting that the huge Delhi Metro network needed proper upkeep, chief minister Sheila Dikshit has written to defence minister A K Antony seeking that DMRC not be given work outside the capital at present.

Dikshit had shot off a letter to Antony, who heads the group of ministers (GoM) on Mass Rapid Transit System, after media reports regarding announcements made by Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments related to expansion of Metro network in these states upset her, official sources told .

In her letter to Antony, Dikshit is learnt to have said that the announcements were made without the approval of the GoM and without consulting her government, which has a 50 per cent share in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

She also said Phase I of Delhi Metro was completed about a decade ago and its condition was deteriorating and in need of attention for maintenance and repair, according to sources.

Dikshit also pointed out that the DMRC was already working on the demanding task of executing Phase III of the Metro’s expansion in the capital, along with preparing a Detailed Project Report for Phase IV, they said.

She wrote that a monorail project in the capital will also be entrusted to the DMRC once preliminary studies are done.

In the letter written last month, the chief minister has told Antony that maintaining the huge infrastructure of the Delhi Metro is a demanding task and diverting its resources to neighbouring towns may adversely affect its functioning and maintenance in the capital, they said.

Dikshit has also asked Antony to advise the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana not to make announcements related to expansion of DMRC network in these states without consulting her government, they said.

 

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) board is likely to clear extension of two Metro lines -one in Noida and another in Faridabad – on Friday. Government sources said extensions of the Metro line from Noida City Center to Sector 62 and YMCA Chowk in Faridabad to Ballabhgarh have been included in the board’s agenda.The two projects are on the table a few weeks after Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit objected to DMRC taking up new projects outside the national capital claiming that the agency has a lot of work to finish within the city.

Early this week, a sub-committee had cleared both the Noida and Faridabad projects. “Once the board clears them, work will start. Extension of Metro is essential for the entire NCR. Centre has already made this clear,” a Union urban development ministry official said.

Though DMRC officials did not divulge estimated costs of the two projects, ministry sources said in these cases, 80% of the investment will come from state governments – Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

The 6.7km Noida City Centre-Sector 62 link would be completely elevated. The route will have six stations at sectors 34, 52, 59, 61, 62 and Electronic City (NH-24, Ghaziabad border).

The authority had also proposed another extension route – 3.9km stretch between Kalindi Kunj and Botanical Garden having two stations.

In the case of Faridabad, Haryana has pushed for extension of the Metro track by 3.2km from YMCA Chowk to Ballabhgarh for better connectivity. At present, the work on 14km Badarpur-YMCA Chowk stretch is on and it is likely to be operational by 2016 when Delhi Metro’s Phase-III will be completed.

“Our endeavour has been to improve connectivity of our cities with Delhi for greater economic activity. Smart and seamless connectivity pushes development across the region, which is our focus of taking up the case for extending Metro link to Ballabhgarh,” said Haryana CM’s son Deepender Singh Hooda, who is also the MP from Rohtak.

 

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

NEW DELHI: DMRC, in Phase III, will attempt to construct over a railway line as well as two loops of a flyover. The elevated corridor (or viaduct) of the under-construction Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden section of Delhi Metro will pass over the Delhi-Mumbai railway tracks as well as the Modi Mill flyover. The flyover is located between the turning to Okhla Phase III and Ishwar Nagar Metro stations.The challenge, says Delhi Metro spokesman Anuj Dayal, is the acute lack of space for construction at this location. “Between these two Metro stations, which will be located about 1km from each other, our engineers are going to encounter two major construction-related challenges: crossing the busy Delhi-Mumbai railway corridor and the two important loops of the Modi Mill flyover,” said Dayal.

The DMRC is planning to install a steel bridge to cross the railway corridor, which has five tracks. “The installation of a steel bridge will cause minimal disruption to the railway operations below. This bridge will cross the tracks at a height of about 17m,” said Dayal, adding that the Delhi Metro is still awaiting permissions for starting the construction over the railway lines.

After crossing the rail tracks, the viaduct will pass over two loops of the Modi Mill flyover which lead to the two sides of the Mathura Road below — towards Ashram and Badarpur. “The construction work over both these crucial loops will be carried out without causing any disruption to the traffic below,” said Dayal. While the length of the span crossing over the first loop towards Ashram will be 34m, the length over the second loop towards Badarpur will be 37m.

“The construction of this portion of the viaduct has already started. This stretch of the viaduct — over the two loops of the Modi Mill flyover — is expected to be completed by the end of October,” Dayal added.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com