<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">With vehicular traffic growing unabated and little being done to counter the problem, the city seems headed towards a big jam session and fast</span><br /><br />Out of gear would be an understatement. With around 14,000 two wheelers and 600 cars vrooming out of various showrooms in Lucknow during Dhanteras and Eid this month, the city is well and truly headed for a big jam session in the coming days.
<br /><br />Bursting at its seams because of unbridled illegal constructions and the 40,000 odd vehicles, which add to its existing fleet of 5 lakhs vehicles every month, Lucknow''s ambitious traffic management plans appears all set to go bust. Sure enough, instead of a metropolis, the hustle and bustle of Lucknow is fast turning into a demented frenzy.<br /><br />Lucknow Times rounds up the reasons for the choked existence that has become second nature to city commuters, and drives home some key points.<br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">PLAN SPEAK</span><br /><br />Issues related to parking, congestion, transport system, condition of roads and a unique sky bus metro service were discussed threadbare by authorities during a workshop on Mass Rapid Transport System at a five-star hotel some years back. Several plans were made and many ambitious schemes were floated. They are still floating.<br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">RITES, NOT QUITE RIGHT</span><br /><br />In April 1999, the Rail India Technical Engineering Services (RITES) chalked out a plan to solve the problem of traffic congestion in the city. At the macro-level, the plan involved decongestion of roads by shifting heavy vehicles on the outer Ring Road and enforcing strict building by-laws with special emphasis on parking. At the micro-level, it stressed on the need of removing encroachment and recommended one-way movement of traffic on certain roads. <br /><br />More than four years have rolled by since, but the plan remains stuck in the rites of passage.<br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">A BRIDGE TOO FAR</span><br /><br />Not one to be left behind, the rural and urban planning department also prepared a master plan to mitigate the woes of commuters. Besides a pedestrian bridge from GPO to Capital and Cathedral School to Mayfair, the plan broached the idea of making parking lots near the Hazratganj Police Station and the Leela Cinema Hall. An underground parking lot was also proposed at the Goonge Nawab Park in Aminabad. The plan also suggested dividing Lucknow into 23 zones and identifying roads and crossings, which are most prone to traffic jams. Subsequently, 37 crossings and four roads were identified. And that''s where the road ended.<br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">SPACED OUT</span><br /><br />In March 2000, the High Court set a three-month deadline for the Lucknow Development Authority to demolish all multi-storied complexes built on parking space. As many as 70 such buildings were identified, but more than three years after the expiry of the three-month deadline, LDA could restore parking lots at only a few of them. And the reason for this is not far to seek. With big money bags reportedly exchanging hands between mafia builders and certain well-entrenched engineers, LDA''s much-hyped operation demolition has itself been demolished.<br /><br />Understandably so, encroachment and illegally constructed commercial and residential complexes continue to eat into the vitals of the city, at times, even slicing off major chunks from roads. By the way, the LDA official, who clears the map for multi-storied buildings in Lucknow, supposedly only has a diploma and that too in electrical engineering by way of qualification!<br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">STUCK ON THE JOB</span><br /><br />Chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has urged all state departments to transfer officials who have been holding the same posts for many years. But the CM''s clarion call seems to have fallen on deaf ears in LDA where most JEs and senior engineers have been handling the same job for anywhere between 15-20 years. On the few odd occasions when they have been transferred, they have managed to come back after a hiatus, which rarely exceeds 6 months.<br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY</span><br /><br />Three prime locations listed as ‘enemy properties'' were identified by the authorities in the vicinity of Hazratganj sometime back to ease the problem of parking in the premiere shopping mall. But even before the authorities could get their act together, the move was scuttled by the land sharks who have encroached upon the property. The vigilance department initiated an enquiry in this regard but their report is still gathering dust.<br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">mazhar.farooqui@timesgroup.com</span><br /></div> </div>
