Subject: Petition for Gurgaon Public Transport Campaign

1415 people have signed this petition so far.

January 28th, 2008
To,
Shri. Mange Ram Gupta, ,
Transport Minister,
Chandigarh.

Dear Sir,

Gurgaon is one of the rapidly developing cities in North India, very often, referred to as the millennium city (and Cyber City of Haryana state). However, this city is under crisis because of lack of urban planning.

As citizens of Gurgaon, we are facing a lot of problems on daily basis due to lack of efficient intercity and intracity public transport system for commuting in the city. Here, we are listing down the problems associated with the existing public transport system available in the city, common problems faced by the citizens of Gurgaon and impact of poor transport system on the citizens.

I.Existing Public Transport System Available in Gurgaon

1.Bus Service available in the city:
Gurgaon city has bus service under which few private buses are run by private contractors. The problems associated with the existing bus service are as follows:

1.Number of buses running is very less as compare to the population and area occupied by the city.
2.The frequency of the buses is very poor.
3.The buses run on few selected routes.
4.During peak hours the buses are over crowded.
5.Often the behavior of the person (who collects the fair from the commuters) with women and girls is highly inappropriate.

2.Six-seater rickshaw service:

The problems associated with the existing six-seater rickshaw service are as follows:
1.Six-seater autos ply only on selected routes in the city.
2.In peak hours, six-seater autos are over crowded. Often, commuters have to run behind the six-seater autos.
3.15-20 people are forced to commute in the six-seater autos by auto rickshaw drivers i.e. they don’t start until the six-seater is over crowded.
4.Condition of auto is such that women, girls and senior citizens can not commute in the six-seater autos.
5.Commuting in six-seater autos containing 15-20 people is not safe. Any time, commuters sitting on edges (and standing behind on the bar) can be victim of rough driving practice of auto drivers or drivers driving other vehicles on the same road.
6.Six-seater autos plying between IFFCO Chowk and Rajiv Chowk (on National Highway # 8) carry 15-20 people in each auto, which is against the traffic rules and regulation. (Traffic police present on the respective chowks do not take any action against it. Often, they are bribed)
7.Most of the six-seater autos do not follow the pollution norms.
8.The owners and drivers of the six-seater autos are not police verified for their behavior, character and antecedents.

3.Cycle-rickshaw:

In Gurgaon, the citizens have to use cycle-rickshaw to commute from one location to other because of poor connectivity of bus service and six-seater service. The problems associated with the existing cycle-rickshaw service are as follows:

1.Fair charged by cycle-rickshaw drivers are not standardized. Many times cycle-rickshaw drivers charge more when they find that passengers are in real need or passengers don’t have any other choice.
2.Often, commuting using the cycle rickshaw is not safe, especially in following cases:
a)Crossing the roads with heavy traffic.
b)Roads having sharp turns.
c)On National Highway # 8
d)Congested road where Metro’s construction is in progress.
3.Commuting using a cycle rickshaw is very costly and only rich people can afford cycle rickshaw service. Lower middle class and lower class people can’t afford it. e.g. Cycle rickshaw drivers charge Rs. 60 for commuting from Sahara mall to sector-40 which is slightly less than the fair of Intercity Express (plying between Delhi and Agra) for second sitting(2S).
4.The owners and drivers of the cycle rickshaws are not police verified for their behavior, character and antecedents.

II.Common Problems Faced by Citizens of Gurgaon

Following is the list of common problems faced by commuters in Gurgaon city.

1.Non availability of auto-rickshaws and taxies:
In Gurgaon, no auto-rickshaw (not six seater) service and taxi service (not the private taxi service works for call centers) is available. The auto-rickshaws and taxies will be much more efficient and cost effective than cycle rickshaws provided they are abided by the traffic rules and regulations.

2.Poor Connectivity: Connectivity in Gurgaon city is very poor. In many pockets of the city, no transport facility (other than cycle rickshaw which is very costly) is available. Often, cycle rickshaw drivers refuse to be engaged. In such a case, a commuter is left with no option but to walk the distance, e.g. if one has to go from sector 40 to DLF Phase – III, there is no transport facility is available.

3.Unavailability of transport in odd hours: After 9 p.m., bus service and six-seater service do not exist in Gurgaon city. No cycle rickshaws are available after 8 p.m. except for the few locations like IFFCO Chowk.

4.Safety: The existing transport system is not safe for women, girls and senior citizens.

III.Impact of Poor Transport System:

1. Sustainability of economically weaker section (EWS): The poor public transport system affecting people who belong to economically weaker section (EWS) of the society and living in Gurgaon or in the near vicinity. These people have to spend major chunk of their earnings on transport. Also, because of poor transport system, people living in one part of city can not utilize the employment opportunities available in other part of the city. e.g. a woman living in Palam Vihar can not commute to Rajiv Chowk for work because of non availability of transport facility.

2.Increasing burden on the traffic system: Due to non availability of efficient transport system, people are forced to buy personal vehicles. The increasing number of personal vehicles put additional burden on roads and cause road block, traffic jams, parking problems, additional fuel consumption and accidents.

3.Impact on environment and health: Increasing number of personal vehicles are increasing carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions which in turn creating environment and health related problems.

Though Gurgaon is rapidly growing in last few years, government does not have any plan for improvement of Public Transport System. Future Gurgaon is planned to extend up to Dharuhera, which will form huge Gurgaon-Manesar-Dharuhera Urban Complex. Yet no independent Integrated Mass Transport System including efficient bus service, Metro Rail network, Ring Rail network, Mono Rail network, Goods transport system has not been designed and executed in phases.

Now, Delhi Metro rail Corporation (DMRC) is extending Delhi Metro project to Gurgaon. The common citizen of Gurgaon will not get any benefit of this huge lucrative project, because Gurgaon does not have efficient feeder/ supportive transport system which Metro required. Without any supportive transport system accessibility of the metro stations will always remain the problem. Then metro will be more helpful to the commuters who are daily commuting from Delhi/ Noida to Gurgaon and not to the citizens of the Gurgaon.
Therefore, we want that government should immediately take action to address this problem.

We strongly demand:

1.Government should set up an independent commission for design and implementation of Integrated Mass Transport System for Gurgaon City.
2.As a part of the integrated mass transport System, government should:
a.Introduce efficient bus service with good intercity and intracity connectivity.
b.Introduce three-seater auto rickshaw service running on meter.
c.Introduce black and yellow-metered taxi service.
3.Government should strictly regulate the six-seater auto rickshaw service currently available in Gurgaon city for number of passengers commuting in the auto rickshaw, environmental norms and police verification of behavior, character and antecedent of auto rickshaw drivers and owners.

Thanking you,
Association for India’s Development - Gurgaon Chapter

The Petition has been copied to:
1.Dr. Manmohan Singh, Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, New Delhi
2.S. Jaipal Reddy, Hon’ble Minister for Urban Development, New Delhi


In Solidarity,

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