UTTAR PRADESH Kanpur Scheme The Kanpur Development Authority on March 27 announced the acquisition of the Jiwan Lal Kahar ka Ahata under the slum development scheme. Earlier the local unit of the domestic Youth Federation of India staged a demonstration and dharna to press the demands of the slums acquisition for the improvement of the sub-human condition existing there. TRAFFIC & TRANSPORTATION Crash Plan to Improve Roads A study team jointly sponsored by the World Bank and the Union Government has recommended that a crash programme for bringing about essential improvements in existing road net work in the country should be taken up without delay according to a March 7 report. The team has pointed out that the quality of road surface. gradient and width of pavements and speed of vehicler traffic contributes significantly to the incidents of accidents besides increasing the fuel consumption. The crash road improvement programme suggested is expected to cost about Rs. 53 crs. spread over a period of 5 Years. Effect of Road on Fuel Efficiency Concrete roads cost a vehicle 10% to 30% less fuel than roads paved with gravel or earth, it is revealed in a road user cost study sponsored jointly by the Govt. of India and the World Bank according to a report of March 7. An average Indian-made car consumes 34% more fuel of driven at 70 kms, an hour. At 80 km an hour the consumption is 56% more; at 90 kilometer it is 83% more and at 100 kms. 114% extra. The study indicates that apart from speed the quality of road surface, gradient and width of pavements also effect the cost of operation of vehicles and contribute to accidents. The study further reveals that the general optimum speed at which fuel consumption is the lowest is when the vehicle runs at 35 to 40 kilometer an hour. While an increase or decrease of 5 to 10 kilometers in the optimum speed level has a marginal effect of fuel consumption, the fuel intake increases at a high rate when the vehicles are driven at very high or low speeds. DELHI Traffic Thrombosis Every Indian is suffering from "Traffic Thrombosis" and the present chaotic conditions on the streets in any city particularly in the Central Business districts will continue to deteriorate with little relief expected in the near future. Such is the picture painted by Mr. P. G. Patankar, Director of the Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune, in a paper presented at a recent seminar on Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities for Metropolitan cities held on March 1. Underground System The government is keen to have an underground railway system for Delhi as suggested by the Railway Reforms Committee (R. R. C) the Railway Minister Mr. Ghani Khan Chowdhury said in Lok Sabha on March 1. However, the huge finance needed for project and related problems would have to be tackled. The Minister estimated that a 57.9 kilometer distance underground system would cost Rs. 3000 crores. Road Accidents As many as 964 people were killed in road accidents in Delhi in 10 months from April last to January 31 this year the Minister of State for Transport Mr. Ansari informed the Lok Sabha. During the period there were 187 fatal accidents involving DTC buses. D. T. C. Plans The Delhi Transport Corporation has no plans to add to its present bus fleet in 1984-85. This is very clearly stated in its budget estimates for the coming financial year. Discussing the D. T. C. Budget with reporters on March 2 Mr. Madan Lal Khurana, (BJP) leader in the metropolitan council said that while in January last Course in Town Planning. This will be first time when the Architecture College will have a degree course in the entire country. The Principal Mr. D. C. Thapar said on March 8 that the College had increased the number of cities from 30 to 40. He further said that the state government was keen to introduce the Town Planning Course. Land Crab Game If the poor are grabing land by in taling their jhuggies the rich, working through unscrupulous colonisers and land racketeers, are doing so in unauthorised colonies and putting up not shanties but huge buildings. In about 4 years about 150 unauthorised colonies have come up or beginning of such colonies are evident according to Usha Rai writing in Times of India of March 22. Before elections in 1977 some 600 unauthorised colonies were regularised. The colonisers are doubly confident that before the next elections the new colories will get official sanction. At any rate they are sure they will not be pulled down. Since land is scarce in Delhi new unauthorised colonies are being established on agricultural land notified for acquisition or actually ac uired by the govt. These colonies are in West, North and East Delhi. The green belt of Tughlakabad too is being ravaged by the colonisers. Only Delhi's Lt. Governor Mr. Jagmohan and a few officials of DDA and MCD seem to be concerned about the rash of unauthorised structures and colonies coming up all over Delhi. Last June the Delhi administration noted a proposal that squatting and illegal constructions should be made a cognisible offence. But the proposal is gathering dust in the Union Ministry of Works and Housing. The Bill for amending the Delhi Amendment Act, as passed by the Metropolitan Council was introduced in Parliament in the mansoon session. Similar proposals have been made for amending the Delhi Municipal Act and the Punjab Municipal Act which applies to New Delhi so that stringent action can be taken against encroachments. Development of Park The development of a part along with the North ridge has been criticised by a local environmental action group and the assistance of Lt. Governor has been sought in preserving the natural wilderness of the area conserved. The members of Kalpvriksh met the Lt. Governor on March 27 and gave him a memorandum expressing an alarm at the rate wilderness areas are being converted into artificial parks. MAHARASHTRA Bursting Bombay The metropolis of Bombay is bursting with people-a continuous flow of migrants that threatens to under-mine any national urbanisation policy. "The Planning Authorities are fully conscious of this but the present policy is to allow things to drift" Dr. S. P. Antia, an expert on Transport Economics said in an interview in Bombay on March 19. He advocated an urbanisation policy which discouraged drastically the drift to large cities. Dr. Antia said though India's ratio of urbanisation was lower it gave little consolation because of the massive urbarisation of the metropolitan cities accompanied by scarcity of resources, natural or financial. He said, "We cannot take care of 110 million urban population at 1971 census what prospect was there to do any better with 278 million population". Dr. Antia criticised the attempts to make massive investments to provide minimum living standards demanded by big city conditions. DELHI WATER SUPPLY Water from Shahdara State & Central Governments against the supply of the contaminated drinking water but no action has been taken by the authorities. Frustrated by the inactive approach of the Jal Sansthan, he along with other complainants on March 1 collected dirty water from the tap in the presence of the police and handed over for registering a case U/S 277 of the Indian Panel Code. Delhi will be supplied 25 million gallon water per day from Shahdara water treatment plant (Project Bhagirath) by the end of April, Dy. Works & Housing Minister Mr. Mallikarjun told the Lok Sewerage Treatment Sabha on March 26. He said the balance of 75 m.g d. would be provided progressively by 1985. Water from Shallow Wells A leading environmentalist has counselled the capital's residents to desist from drinking water from shallow tubewells and hand pumps to avoid contamination hazards. The shallower the well the greater is the content of harmful metals says Dr. S. H. Israeli of the Department of Geology in Aligarh Muslim University. In a study on water in Delhi Dr. Israeli recommends aviodence of water from shallow wells for various utilities. Dr. Israeli recommends use of water from tubewells preferably 150' deep and blended with purifiers. Poor drainage and sanitary system effect the water of shallow wells and hand pumps making unfit for human consumption. UTTAR PRADESH Case Against Jal Sansthan The police on March 1 sealed a drinking water sample bottle containing leach and other worms taken from a public tap and registered a complaint lodged by Mr. Jai Narain Gupta and two other against the General Manager and staff members of the Kanpur Jal Sansthan. The complainant Mr. Gupta has been registering the complaints since last year to the Jal Sansthan Authorities. District Magistrate, The Bhabha Atomic Centre has commenced work on a pilot plant to treat the sewage sludge at Baroda using nuclear technology. In this process bacterial organisms will be killed by radiation. This plant is expected to be completed in two years according to Dr. Raja Ramanna, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. A larger and full scale plant is being envisaged for treating the sewage effluent at Delhi during the 7th Plan period. Dr. Ramanna said this at his inaugural ad‹ress at the International Conference on applications of radioisotapes and radiation in industrial development in Bombay on March 1. Uphill Task for Lucknow Jal With the summer being round the corner and the temperature shooting up every day the Lucknow Jal Sansthan faces an uphill task for supplying potable water to more than 12 lakh residents of the state capital. The demand- for potable water in summer months shoots up to about 60 lakh gallons per day. With the working of Gaughat Pumping Station remaining unsatisfactory the pumping capacity of raw water from the Gomti to the Aishbagh pumping station is generally uncertain. The Sansthan supplies nearly 40 lakh gallons of water every day. 03) 83919 BUYERS' GUIDE bsdsbstc74 PIPES DES A. C. Pressure Pipes Products Ltd. 93 Nehru Place New Delhi-110019 2. Ganga Asbestos Cement Ltd., Dalmau Road, P. O. Munshiganj-229 405 3. Hyderabad Asbestos Hyderabad-500 018 4. Hindustan Asbestos Pipes 12-B, Amrut Vila Shantiniketan Society Behind Gujarat College Ahmedabad-380 006 5. Kalani Asbestos Cement Pvt. Ltd., Kalani House, 11, Tukoganj Main Road, 6. Poddar Industrial Corpn. 7. Swastik Industries, 39/D, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Pune 411037 8. Shree Digvijay Cement P. O. Digvijay Nagar, Sole Selling Agents |