'Grand' plans for city entrances

NEW DELHI: If it''s the Statue of Liberty which captures the imagination of those entering New York, for those entering the Capital, it may soon be the ''grand entrances''.
The Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation (DSIDC) has mooted a proposal to construct aesthetically-designed structures, which remind one of the ''bygone era'' at the five main entry points to the city.If the proposal gets the government nod, entry points at Badarpur, Maharajpur, Narela, Tikri and Gurgaon may have these entrances.
The idea is not only to construct ''grand'' entrances, but to create a system which will take care of the border chaos through computerised weigh bridges for heavy motor traffic entering the city. Instead of merely installing this machine, DSIDC wants to use this as an opportunity to construct complexes which would include a multiplicity of activities including passenger facilitation, MCD/RTO toll, police check post, tourism department outlets, food plazas and rest rooms.
"We have appointed a team of consultants and are in the process of conducting a techno-economic study," said DSIDC commissioner Jalaj Srivastava. DSIDC will make a presentation to the chief secretary next week.
The proposal comes in the wake of Delhi urban development minister A K Walia assuring the Assembly in the recently-convened session that the government would consider beautification of border areas.
The idea, said Srivastava, took shape last year when he was special commissioner in the transport department. "Overloading of trucks, the consequent high diesel consumption and the resultant increase in pollution was a big problem. The concept of weigh bridges came in to contain overloading," he said. The transport department, too, seems to be taking an active interest in computerised weigh bridges. In July, a team of officials went to Gujarat to study the weigh bridges installed at many of the border areas there.
"We realised that the concerned department there recovered the investment — Rs 35 crore in a period of four months. In the past one year, it has been able to generate about Rs 200 crore," said motor licensing officer (projects) Anil Chhikara.
The advantages of the system are many. "The scanner photographs the number plate, while sensors automatically spell the overloading. Accordingly, a challan can be issued," Chhikara added. The best part is that the system leaves little scope for corruption with everything being automated. The system can be used effectively to prevent stolen vehicles from going out of the city.