ties can be effected by means of staggering of work hours and thus distributing the peak hour load evenly to a long duration. Apart fron relieving the load on the mass transportation system this can increase the capacity of the roads considerably. Though certain amount of strain on family life and social relations are to be anticipated with a (Continued from page 15) up to the early years of the nineteenth century universal street lighting in English cities and towns was feeble and scarce. The few occasional oil lamps, lighted by a Cottonwick which floated in a pan of oil, did no more than make the darkness beyond its immediate dim circle of light appear even darker. It was not safe to be out alone in the streets after dark, and as far as known the high road between London and Kensington was the first place where oil lamps were hung in 1946 as a protection against night prowlers, thieves and cut-throats. Hired 'link' men carrying flaring torches were then part of the nightly scene and it was a familiar sight to encounter them running in front of sedan chairs chrrying persons of quality guiding them home. John Gay of 'Beggar's Opera' fame wrote: 'When in long frank a train of torches flame To light the midnight visits of the dame.' On arrival at their destination the 'link' men would douse their flaming and smoking flambeaux, which were made of tar and two, into the wrought-iron, trumpet-shaped extinguishers fixed at the side of the entrance door, which were an essential part of the frontage of the residences of people of rank and standing. Some of the original wroughtiron lamp holders and torch extinquishers may still be seen in Berkeley, St. James's and Cavendish Squares and, probably, elsewhere. In 1807 the introduction of gas in most of the West End streets and squares superseded the use of oil lamps. Six years later the West-Minister City Council also discarded oil lamps, but as late as 1842 Grosvenor Square was still lit by them. (The Municipal Review ). complete staggering to work hours, and perhaps business and office transactions may get disrupted with the altered working systems, a fair amount of transportation efficiency could be obtained by a carefully prepared comprehensive programme of staggering working hours say from 7. A. M. to 7. P. M. At least this could be an interim measure till a complete dispersal of work centres are achieved, in the case of large metropolitan cities. No amount of solutions can deal with the commutation problem unless positive measures are taken to improve all modes of transport. The auto-oriented planning of our urban areas have to be revised necessarily not because of the prejudice towards the automobile, but because it will take decades to think in terms of a car for a family. This does not mean that we should not think in terms of the development of arterial highways and urban street systems. Invariably, with a rise in income we have to account for achieving higher standards of mobility by the renovation of both individual as well as public transportation. In the meanwhile development of other forms of cheap transportation prevalent now in our cities, offers prospects to reduce the load on mass transportation. This includes in the provision of exclusive cycle paths free from vehicular traffic, in cities where already commutation by cycling is predominant. facilities is A balanced system of transportation ideal not only in concept but practical too. No one mode of transportation can entirely take the burden of peak hour demand. Where a high speed mass transit facility exists it can act as the basic system which can be integrated with the other systems of transportation in such a way that they act as complimentary to the basic system. Thus in a metropolitan city with a decentrallised system of work and residential areas hung along a line a surface railway could act as the main system while the feeder system could be based on bus or establish ring cycle. The proposal to railways in some of our cities has necessarily to be hinged to its feasibility to provide a suitable means of such basic mass transit facility. Water Supply WATER SUPPLY IN A building on Mathura Road where experts determine whether the Delhi citizen should get the civilized world's minimum of 50 gallons of water a day or live without a drop for 36 hours (it literally happened once) exudes a strange sense of satisfaction. If the feeling does not travel far outside the building to enthuse the citizen, it may be beause it evaporates on the way like 66 per cent of the water that Delhi receives from Punjab. And none except those in the building should blame the citizen if he does not share their sense of satisfaction. He has learntcertainly with no pronounced happiness-to admire the lush green public lawns while he is threatened with prosecution for raising a small garden. The citizen has a strong suspicion the Water Supply and Sewage Disposal Undertaking believes Delhi does not exist above 15 feet from the ground, the level where first floor apartments begin. If water does reach the first-floor taps and cisterns, it is because of one of three reasons. One, the man living on the ground floor feels Ashokan compassion and occasionally turns off his taps to allow water to reach the man above. Two, the first-floor man may be enterprising in an unmentionable way and "manages" a separate water meter for himself in violation of the rules. Three, the house-owner has installed a booster pump for the first floor (this, incidentally, has produced a flourishing local industry). Cynical Statisticians The citizens are told the undertaking has ensured 40 gallons per head a day for the population of 30 lakhs. But there are cynical statisticians who do not err, and present a dismal picture. Total capacity-120 million gallons a day; leakage through 5,000 public hydrants on a moderate estimate-25 per cent (30 million gallons). This leaves 30 gallons to a person. Therefore when the chairman of the Corporation's Water Supply and Sewage DELHI Disposal Committee promises 50 gallons per head in two years, what he probably means is that a citizen may hope to get at least 37.5 gallons a day. The list of projects and plans to achieve sufficiency is impressive. The single most important among them is the secon 40 million gallon plant of Wazirabad which the undertaking hopes to commission before the end of the fourth Plan. If it is not commissioned as scheduled, it would be due to factors "beyond" the undertaking's control. (Such allowance of margin kept the undertaking free of any responsibility for the three-year delay with the first Wazirabad plant.) Hindon Project As important as this project is the undertaking's decision to ask Punjab to release the usual 325 cusecs of water into the Jumna at the Wazirabad intake point. The present arrangement is that the water is released through the Munak and Indri escapes and, by the time it flows down to Wazirabad, 66 per cent of the volume evaporates. The undertaking bemoans the fact that it receives only 33 per cent while it pays for the total. Its suggestion obviously will slice off Punjab's profits and, therefore, it is unlikely that the proposal will be accepted in the normal course. It may be necessary to seek Central assistance to make Punjab agree and the undertaking would do well to try to get the Union Irrigation and Power Minister especially involved in Delhi's problems like. his predecessor. The plan that follows these in significance is the Hindon project expected to be completed in 1972. Under the scheme, Delhi will get 200 cusecs from the U. P. river in exchange for Delhi's "affluent" which will be drained into the Agra Canal for irrigation purposes in U. P. Among other projects is the Ghaziabad tubewell work which has been initiated with a pilot project of 15 tubewells at a cost of Rs. 10 lakhs. Two firms have been assigned the job of tapping five million gallons of water a day from the Jumna bed. Under yet another scheme, the Delhi Administration has set up a planning cell to explore the possibilities of utilizing water from the Najafgarh jheel. This is a fourth Plan project. To ensure that its efforts at augmenting water supply are not defeated by continuous leakage, the undertaking has decided it would in future allow only metered hydrants at public places. It has, according to a spokesman, reduced the size of the existing taps by one-fourth to cut down the wastage. About its other responsibility, that of a proper drainage system for the city, the undertaking hopes things will look up once two new trunk sewers have been laid. One of these is being constructed in the Red Fort area. The other is designed to serve the West Delhi colonies being develo. ped by the Delhi Development Authority. Statutory Board Confronted with all these schemes, a visitor to the Mathura Road building is apt to feel the official optimism is infectious. If he has lingering doubts, it must be due to his experience in Delhi where schemes seem to have a tendency to run into trouble because of factors "beyond" official control. Unfortunately there are indications that the citizen's despair may once again be vindicated even with the establishment of a statutory board in a few months to take charge of the city's water supply and drainage systems. A Bill is before Parliment for setting up the board and a report provisions is being studied by the undertaking. Its opinions on the report will be submitted in a fortnight. on its What is distressing is a suggestion in the report that the responsibility of setting up plants, maintaining them and distributing water may be divided between the board and the Municipal Corporation. A similar suggestion has been made in respect of electricity supply to be regulated through the proposed power board. (Continued on page 21) Bombay Corporation Plan Bombay Municipal Corporation has stopped the supply of water from Vaitarna Lake and will not draw supplies from it for some more days, according to Dr. Bhal Patil (PSP), who moved a motion to adjourn the civic meeting for 10 minutes on October 3 as there were complaints of water shortage. He said that this was a man-made scarcity which caused hardships to many. Many women had to walk two furlongs to fetch water as the pressure was very low, he added. Mrs. Ahilya Rangnekar seconded the motion which, when put to to the vote, was lost. The Commissioner informed the House that the once-a-day supply system would continue. Bombay Municipal Corporation will shortly take up construction of the Dahisar Dam to augment the city's water supply. The Dahisar project, when completed, will provide six million gallons of water per day. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 5.25 crores. The civic body, it is learnt, has already acquired the land for the project, but the price of the land is still to be fixed. It was a subject of controversy some time ago. The Corporation expected the State Government to charge nominally for the land-most of the land in the project area belong to the Government-but the Government wanted Rs. two to Rs. six per square yard (or about Rs. 10,000 at Rs. 30,000 per acre), excluding the cost of trees. (Continued from page 20 ) Such an arrangement will at best maintain the status quo if not worsen the water supply system. Experience has shown too often that an official agency prefers nothing better than holding other agencies responsible for a lapse. A responsibility divided between the board the and Corporation may present the unwelcome spectacle of two official agencies splitting hair on who should determine whether the citizen should get 50 gallons of water a day or go without a drop for 36 hours. The civic authorities believe that since the land has now been acquired, there would be no delay in executing the project. Work on the Ulhas River project, which was scheduled to start two months ago, has just started and is expected to be completed in April, it is learnt. The bhoomi puja of the project was performed by the chairman of the Works Committee (Suburbs) in July but work could not be taken on hand by the contractor at all. The delay has been attributed to the nonavailability of pump, which the Hydraulic Department had hoped to secure from a private firm. Originally the project was to be completed in two months' time and was to be attended to on a "war footing." The decision was taken during water famine condi tions which Bombay faced last summer. The entire project would cost Rs. 2,88,70,000. It is learnt that the contractor failed to carry out the works till the beginning of this month and the Municipal Commissioner, Mr. J. H. Patwardhan, cancelled the tender given to the company. It is further learnt that the company's deposit would be forfeited as it could not undertake the work. The work for laying the nine-mile pipeline from the Ulhas River to Tarali village would be entrusted to another firm. The city would get 40 million gallons of water daily from the Ulhas River from April. The State Government which had agreed to give only 20 million gallons from the river is understood to have promised on Tuesday to give another 20 million gallons. engineer has been sanctioned by the CommisA special staff headed by an executive sioner. About 80 men will be on the job to complete the work. Preliminary investigation revealed that 124 million gallons of water was being used daily by Ulhas town, the industries in that zone and for irrigation purposes. And 34 OVER 80,000 ANAND-ASAHI WATER METERS ARE IN USE IN 14 STATES! AND ASARI REASON? Wherever it goes, Anand-Asahi sets the standard for It was the first in India to get ISI certification. Right from the beginning, it has been placed on Its design has been developed after years of research by one of the world's best known manufacturers of Water Meters: Osaka Kiko Ltd. Manufactured by ANAND WATER METER MFG. COMPANY Bensons 3-AWM 5C |