In a major relief to the Delhi government, the Delhi high court dismissed a petition on Thursday, which sought the scrapping of the bus-rapid transport [BRT] corridor between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand. The court said that the implementation of the BRT project was not an 'irrational decision'.
A bench of the justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Manmohan Singh said that the project was implemented for the long term, keeping in mind the growing population and a lack of scope to expand the width of city roads.
An NGO Nyaya Bhoomi had approached the court, saying that the project was a complete waste of money. It had highlighted that for every one bus there are approximately two hundred other motorised vehicles on the roads of Delhi and thus the space allocation in the ratio 1:1.75 is not only unjust but is arbitrary and unreasonable. It had also said that whereas bus lanes remain empty 90 per cent of the time, the other part of the carriage way is more than full. It had sought the direction from the court to the Delhi government to allow cars to run on the BRT corridor during non-peak hours.
'There being no scope to expand the width of the existing roads and the population of Delhi continuously being on rise, we see no escape from the fact that the citizens of Delhi have to, one day or the other, use public transport. On said reason also, it cannot be said that implementation of BRT corridors in the city of Delhi is an irrational decision,' the court said.
On the issue of traffic problems at the Chirag Delhi crossing, the court mentioned the Delhi government counsel's word on actively considering constructing a road. It said, 'It is hoped and expected that as a responsible government, the Government of NCT of Delhi would look into the specific problem at the Chirag Delhi crossing and would take all remedial measures necessary to decongest the traffic [there].
The Nyaya Bhoomi had referred to a survey report of the Central Road Research Institute [CRRI] on the functioning of the BRT and the Delhi Master Plan to argue that a dedicated BRT corridor could not be created on narrow roads, as it would hardly leave any space for other vehicles. Another NGO, however, supporting the BRT corridor, had said that unless car users were punished, they would not shift to public-transport system. The Delhi government had rejected the CRRI report during hearing.
A bench of the justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Manmohan Singh said that the project was implemented for the long term, keeping in mind the growing population and a lack of scope to expand the width of city roads.
An NGO Nyaya Bhoomi had approached the court, saying that the project was a complete waste of money. It had highlighted that for every one bus there are approximately two hundred other motorised vehicles on the roads of Delhi and thus the space allocation in the ratio 1:1.75 is not only unjust but is arbitrary and unreasonable. It had also said that whereas bus lanes remain empty 90 per cent of the time, the other part of the carriage way is more than full. It had sought the direction from the court to the Delhi government to allow cars to run on the BRT corridor during non-peak hours.
'There being no scope to expand the width of the existing roads and the population of Delhi continuously being on rise, we see no escape from the fact that the citizens of Delhi have to, one day or the other, use public transport. On said reason also, it cannot be said that implementation of BRT corridors in the city of Delhi is an irrational decision,' the court said.
On the issue of traffic problems at the Chirag Delhi crossing, the court mentioned the Delhi government counsel's word on actively considering constructing a road. It said, 'It is hoped and expected that as a responsible government, the Government of NCT of Delhi would look into the specific problem at the Chirag Delhi crossing and would take all remedial measures necessary to decongest the traffic [there].
The Nyaya Bhoomi had referred to a survey report of the Central Road Research Institute [CRRI] on the functioning of the BRT and the Delhi Master Plan to argue that a dedicated BRT corridor could not be created on narrow roads, as it would hardly leave any space for other vehicles. Another NGO, however, supporting the BRT corridor, had said that unless car users were punished, they would not shift to public-transport system. The Delhi government had rejected the CRRI report during hearing.