City traffic jams

Of course, the problem is a systemic one and merely putting more bodies on the street to direct traffic will not solve it. When the fundamental problem is too many vehicles plying too few roads, more traffic police cannot be expected to have much of an effect on easing traffic congestion.

The traffic situation in the capital has been steadily worsening over the years and the situation is now among the worst in the world. The simple problem is that there are not enough roads to adequately serve the burgeoning population.

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Roads comprise roughly 8 per cent of the total land area of the city, as opposed to the 12 per cent which city planners consider the minimum for a workable metropolis. And this does not even take into account the huge increase in the number of both people and vehicles in recent years that has only exacerbated the problem.

Some by-pass roads have been built to ease congestion, but most of the plans to build new roads have been left languishing by successive governments.

We need first to build new roads where we can -- and this means following through on the existing plans for by-pass roads even if we have to demolish structures that have been put up, albeit illegally, on land earmarked for roads.

In addition, we need to step up construction of fly-overs and to seriously pursue the idea of an underground public transportation system. Indeed even improving overground public transportation would decrease our reliance on private vehicles and thus help ease congestion.

The traffic situation is already close to intolerable and the countless hours we waste in traffic cost us crores in lost manhours and productivity. It is imperative that the government act before the situation gets any worse.