Did DMRC change rail route to benefit a DND flyway?
4 March 2013 12:46 AM GMT
Did Delhi Metro change the route for its Phase-III project in east Delhi to benefit a DND flyway? Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is trying its best to stop an RTI query seeking answer to why the route of this particular stretch was changed from Welcome to Lajpat Nagar.
In response to the RTI query filed by lawyer Sushant Mukund, demanding explanation for the route change from Welcome to Lajpat Nagar, the first Appellate Authority of DMRC has brazenly refused to reveal the information citing section 2 (f) of the RTI Act. This is the only response Mukund has received since June 2012 when he started seeking information on the matter. In the same reply the DMRC, for the first time, accepted that the letter forwarded by the office of the Delhi chief minister to DMRC on 12 June 2012 is 'non-traceble'.
Interestingly, the letter had sought same clarifications and queries demanded by Mukund from Public Information Officer (PIO) of DMRC under Right to Information Act- 2005 on 9 October 2012 which never received a reply. Millennium Post is in possession of all the related documents.
'The only beneficiary of the route change is the DND flyway,' alleges Mukund. The plan that had been approved for Metro phase-III was to connect the furthermost areas of the trans-Yamuna bordering Uttar Pradesh and Noida. It was to run parallel through the DND flyway to reach Nizamuddin in South East Delhi. Mukund claims this would have affected, the turnover of the DND flyway, as many of its users would have switched from travelling in their private vehicles to the Metro.
In the changed plan, the route takes a sharp turn from Anand Vihar to Trilokpuri to meet the present Mayur Vihar Phase-I metro station and runs parallel to the Nizamuddin bridge on the Yamuna to reach Sarai Kale Khan. If the original route was approved, Noida and areas of East Delhi would have directly got connected to south Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad, he adds. In this way, feels the lawyer, all the commuters from Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad heading towards south Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad who have started to use the Metro, which would have resulted in a major drop in income for DND. 'Besides better connectivity, the original route was also planned to decongest traffic at Nizamuddin and Ring Road, which is a major source of income for DND,' alleges Mukund. In the appeal filed to the Chief Information Commission (CIC) last Friday, he has alleged that the DMRC is safeguarding the interest of the corporate sector at the cost of the people, and requested the authorities to take up the matter on a priority basis.
'There is a need to carry out a detailed transportation study to assess the latent travel demand which would have been generated for Metro from the now-shelved metro line connecting Anand Vihar and Lajpat Nagar metro stations via Kondali, sector 15 and sector 16 in Noida,' said Professor P K Sarkar, Department of Transport Planning, School of Planning and Architecture. 'The question is: has the proposed section been rerouted to suit the requirement for DMRC. A transportation study would reveal whether any amount of traffic would be shifted to metro from the DND flyway with the rerouted metro line,' added Sarkar.
In the RTI application and subsequent appeal to the first Appellate Authority, the applicant had attached both the proposed map of the route and the final approved map of Phase-III of that particular section. The reply of the first Appellate Authority issued on 17 January, 2013 said, 'The letter in point is non-traceable, therefore a request has been sent to the Chief Minister's office to provide a copy of the said letter.' It further added points 2 & 3 are not information as defined under section 2 (f) of the RTI Act. The point 2 of the RTI query is - Reason behind change in route from original route in Metro Phase-III between Welcome to Lajpat Nagar, while the third point questions whether it was considered to connect extreme East Delhi (Kalyan Puri, Trilokpur, Kondli) to south Delhi in Metro Phase-III.
TRACK TRAVAILS
In response to the RTI query filed by lawyer Sushant Mukund, demanding explanation for the route change from Welcome to Lajpat Nagar, the first Appellate Authority of DMRC has brazenly refused to reveal the information citing section 2 (f) of the RTI Act. This is the only response Mukund has received since June 2012 when he started seeking information on the matter. In the same reply the DMRC, for the first time, accepted that the letter forwarded by the office of the Delhi chief minister to DMRC on 12 June 2012 is 'non-traceble'.
Interestingly, the letter had sought same clarifications and queries demanded by Mukund from Public Information Officer (PIO) of DMRC under Right to Information Act- 2005 on 9 October 2012 which never received a reply. Millennium Post is in possession of all the related documents.
'The only beneficiary of the route change is the DND flyway,' alleges Mukund. The plan that had been approved for Metro phase-III was to connect the furthermost areas of the trans-Yamuna bordering Uttar Pradesh and Noida. It was to run parallel through the DND flyway to reach Nizamuddin in South East Delhi. Mukund claims this would have affected, the turnover of the DND flyway, as many of its users would have switched from travelling in their private vehicles to the Metro.
In the changed plan, the route takes a sharp turn from Anand Vihar to Trilokpuri to meet the present Mayur Vihar Phase-I metro station and runs parallel to the Nizamuddin bridge on the Yamuna to reach Sarai Kale Khan. If the original route was approved, Noida and areas of East Delhi would have directly got connected to south Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad, he adds. In this way, feels the lawyer, all the commuters from Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad heading towards south Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad who have started to use the Metro, which would have resulted in a major drop in income for DND. 'Besides better connectivity, the original route was also planned to decongest traffic at Nizamuddin and Ring Road, which is a major source of income for DND,' alleges Mukund. In the appeal filed to the Chief Information Commission (CIC) last Friday, he has alleged that the DMRC is safeguarding the interest of the corporate sector at the cost of the people, and requested the authorities to take up the matter on a priority basis.
'There is a need to carry out a detailed transportation study to assess the latent travel demand which would have been generated for Metro from the now-shelved metro line connecting Anand Vihar and Lajpat Nagar metro stations via Kondali, sector 15 and sector 16 in Noida,' said Professor P K Sarkar, Department of Transport Planning, School of Planning and Architecture. 'The question is: has the proposed section been rerouted to suit the requirement for DMRC. A transportation study would reveal whether any amount of traffic would be shifted to metro from the DND flyway with the rerouted metro line,' added Sarkar.
In the RTI application and subsequent appeal to the first Appellate Authority, the applicant had attached both the proposed map of the route and the final approved map of Phase-III of that particular section. The reply of the first Appellate Authority issued on 17 January, 2013 said, 'The letter in point is non-traceable, therefore a request has been sent to the Chief Minister's office to provide a copy of the said letter.' It further added points 2 & 3 are not information as defined under section 2 (f) of the RTI Act. The point 2 of the RTI query is - Reason behind change in route from original route in Metro Phase-III between Welcome to Lajpat Nagar, while the third point questions whether it was considered to connect extreme East Delhi (Kalyan Puri, Trilokpur, Kondli) to south Delhi in Metro Phase-III.
TRACK TRAVAILS
- The plan that had been approved for Metro phase-III was to connect the furthermost areas of the trans-Yamuna bordering Uttar Pradesh and Noida. It was to run parallel through the DND flyway to reach Nizamuddin in South East Delhi.
- In the changed plan, the route takes a sharp turn from Anand Vihar to Trilokpuri to meet the present Mayur Vihar Phase-I metro station and runs parallel to the Nizamuddin bridge on the Yamuna to reach Sarai Kale Khan
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