New Delhi: Delhi Police informed the Supreme Court Monday that the agencies concerned have completed 31 of the 68 tasks identified by December last year on 77 congested traffic corridors in the national capital, which would help in de-congesting roads. The police told a bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta that 27 tasks are in progress and will be completed within two-three months.
“A total of 68 tasks (34 for category ‘A’, 24 for category ‘B’ and 10 for category ‘C’ corridors) were targeted by the respective civic agencies to be completed by December 2018, out of which 31 tasks have been completed, on six tasks regular and continuous action is being undertaken, four have not been found feasible by the agencies and 27 are under progress/pending which are likely to be completed by next two-three months,” the police said in its status report filed in the court.
In all, 620 tasks have been identified by the agencies under the three categories. The total tasks identified in 28 congested corridors of category ‘A’ were 350, the report said. Similarly, it said that while 165 tasks have been identified in 30 congested traffic corridors in ‘B’ category, the number of tasks identified in 19 such corridors in ‘C’ category was 105. The police had earlier told the court that completion of these identified tasks in these three categories would ensure smooth flow of traffic in the national capital.
During the hearing on Monday, the bench asked Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand, who was representing Delhi Police, about the four tasks which were not found to be feasible by the agencies. The court told the police that they would have to suggest alternatives within three weeks for the four tasks which have not been found feasible by the agencies.
According to the status report filed by the police, the four tasks which were not found to be feasible by the agencies included work related to re-structuring and designing on Punjabi Bagh flyover and closure of an existing cut on the road near Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) depot at Nangloi. During the hearing, the bench also dealt with the issue of parking policy. The counsel appearing for Delhi government told the court that “Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Rules” has been cleared by the transport ministry of Delhi government with certain objections.
The bench said that decision taken by the ministry be placed before it by February 7 and posted the matter for hearing on February 11. Earlier, the Delhi government had told the court that the “Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Rules” were formulated and its draft was notified on January 24 last year. “After considering the suggestions/objection received, the draft notification was further revised and proposal for obtaining approval of the competent authority for the issuance of notification of these Rules has been submitted to the Minister of Transport, Government of Delhi,” it said in its earlier affidavit.
The bench on Monday also dealt with the issue of procurement of buses by Delhi government to augment public transport in the national capital. On the issue of appointment of district ‘nazir’ (record keeper of record-room) in Delhi, the court was informed that Delhi government has given a proposal that interim district ‘nazir’ can be appointed in the meantime. The bench asked Delhi government to appoint interim district ‘nazir’ within 10 days.
It also dealt with the issue of allotment of land by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to Delhi government to build ‘malkhana’ (record room) in each districts here. The DDA’s counsel told the bench that 10.74 acres of land has been allotted to Delhi government against their demand of around 60 acres land. The bench asked Delhi government and DDA to “sort out” their differences and do the needful in this regard within four weeks. These issues have cropped up before the court when it was hearing a matter relating to air pollution in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR).
