News Detail

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">In a first, the municipal corporation has set up a think tank, including citizens&#39; groups and transport experts, to resolve traffic and transport related problems. Till now, the city&#39;s traffic planning and transport issues were handled by the traffic police.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">&quot;The think tank will deal with issues related to traffic planning, transportation modelling, urban mobility and pedestrian movement. It will provide various incentives on public transport vis-a-vis private transport and will encourage non-motorized transport, such as usage of cycling tracks and pedestrian plazas,&quot; said S V R Srinivas, additional municipal commissioner.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Besides vehicular traffic, this committee which met for the first time on Monday will also revisit issues of parking and &quot;human traffic&quot; on roads and pavements. The architects and urban planners on the committee will also look into the design aspect of footpaths with slopes for the disabled.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">&quot;Pavements should have slopes to be disabled friendly. The design of the Oval Maidan and Mantralaya footpaths fit the bill as they are &quot;human traffic-friendly&quot;. When we talk about traffic movement, pedestrians also should be given priority in the planning process. Footpaths, which form an integral part of city planning, is given the least importance,&quot; said Indrani Malkani, trustee of the V Citizens&#39; Action Network.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">The newly formed think tank comprises a multi-disciplinary team of experts, which includes Malkani, Navi Mumbai SEZ (P) Ltd and Urban Infrastructure Venture Capital Ltd chairman Anand Jain, transport experts Ashok Datar and Sudhir Badami, Karmayog founder Vinay Somani, Urban Design Research Institute director Pankaj Joshi, architect Shirish Patel, additional commissioner of police (traffic) Brijesh Singh, and officials from the BEST, MMRDA and civic roads and development plan departments.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial"><strong>Highlights</strong></span></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">The BMC for the first time has formed a &#39;think tank&#39; to look into traffic and transport related issues</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial"><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">Citizens&#39; groups, civil society, urban planners, architects and transport experts are roped in</span></span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial"><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em"><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">The committee will not only deal with transport and vehicular traffic but also look into human traffic</span></span></span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">It will seek to encourage non-motorized transport like usage of cycling tracks and pedestrian plazas</span></li> <li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">It will also look into the design aspect of footpaths and pavements to make it disabled&nbsp;friendly</span></li> <li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color:rgb(105, 105, 105); font-family:arial; font-size:11px; line-height:1.6em">The committee will provide various incentives on public transport vis-a-vis private transport and will encourage non-motorized systems, such as usage of cycling tracks and pedestrian plazas</span></li> </ul> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="color:#696969"><span style="font-size:11px"><span style="font-family:arial">Source-On Request</span></span></span></p>