New Delhi: In a major initiative to
tackle the growing traffic problem, Delhi Government today
approved a bill to set up an overarching body to take care of
all critical issues relating to transport sector including
infrastructure development and traffic management in the city.
The proposed Delhi Urban Mass Transit Authority
(DUMTA) will plan and develop transport infrastructure and
take care of public transport, besides ensuring proper traffic
discipline.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said multiplicity of
authorities has been a major bottleneck for developing
world class transport infrastructure in city and the proposal
to set up DUMTA is an effort to overcome these problems.
Under the Delhi Urban Mass Transit Authority Bill,
2010, DUMTA will also function as a nodal agency between
departments like Traffic Police, Delhi Transport Corporation
(DTC) and PWD and offer solution to ever increasing traffic
problem in the city.
The approval for the DUMTA, modeled on similar
systems in New York, London, Singapore and Boston, came at a
meeting of the Cabinet chaired by the Chief Minister.
Currently, there is "no coordination" between the
agency responsible for constructing and managing road network,
Transport department and the Traffic Police, Dixit said after
the meeting.
Officials said that to overcome this problem, Union
Home Minister P Chidambaram had requested Dikshit to
constitute an authority for integrated handling of all
transport related issues and accordingly the bill was drafted.
The chairperson of the DUMTA will be the Chief
Minister and initially it will have 11 members including the
Chairperson and the Member Secretary.
Dikshit had, in 2008, written a letter to the Home
Ministry requesting it to hand over traffic police to city
government. Asked whether traffic police will function under
DUMTA, she did not give a direct reply but said the Traffic
Police Commissioner will be a member of the proposed
authority.
DUMTA will be responsible for development and
regulation of integrated multi-modal public transport system
as well as transport infrastructure for accessible, economic,
efficient, reliable, safe and sustainable public transport.
The bill will be sent to the Home Ministry through Lt
Governor Tejinder Khanna for his approval before introducing
it in the next session of Delhi Assembly.
Noting that the transport department does not have the
necessary expertise for strategic planning and analysis, she
hoped that setting up of the DUMTA will help the government
develop proper transport infrastructure in the city.
As per the bill, DUMTA will have jurisdiction over
roads currently being maintained by the PWD.
-PTI
