Eradication of Corruption & Inefficiency - Enforcement of 20 point road inspection report.

On Monday, January 30, 2017 at 8:51:34 AM UTC+5:30, Sanjeev wrote:

	DWARKA FORUM Dwarka Ki Awaaz                                           (Regn No. S-63070)                                        (A Welfare Association of Residents & RWA's / CGHS Representatives of Dwarka Sub-City)
Regd. Office: 720, Pocket-1, Sector-14, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110078		5 E-mail: dwarkaforum@gmail.com www.dwarkaforum.org

                                                                                     No. SKG/DDA/296         29 Jan 2017

Er. D P Singh, Chief Engineer,
Dwarka Project Office - DDA,

Mangala Puri, Delhi-110 045. sehqdwk@dda.org.in, cedwk@dda.org.in

Dear Sir.

Reg: Eradication of Corruption & Inefficiency - Enforcement of 20 point road inspection report.

Dear Sir,

Please refer several letters written to you earlier on the subject. It is indeed a surprise that an officer of your caliber is ignoring such an extremely important issue. As a result of non-enforcement of generation of regular road inspection report on defined parameters the CORRUPTION & INEFFICINCY is increasing day-by-day. We are not able to understand what is preventing you to take required action. See ample number of examples showing:

(i)             Long ramps on road – who allowed such ramps to come up encroaching on road space is a matter of concern. Is it rampant corruption or extreme carelessness by DDA staff?

(ii)            Examples of encroachment on footpath – This prima facie seems to be a direct case of open CORUPTION exhibited by DDA staff in Dwarka?

(iii)           Potholes on new road. Despite our repeated reference there is a nude dance of corruption in Dwarka where new roads don't stay even for one year.

(iv)          Iron Grill in front of Zebra crossing. How can your learned engineers do this foolishness?

(v)           Advertisement Board on footpath – This is a case of shame for DDA engineers – for what consideration they have kept their eyes closed against such blockage on footpath causing high inconvenience to padestrians.

Above are not isolated examples but are existing on every road in Dwarka. 

Despite having adequate staff and heading DDA Dwarka Project Office you have been instrumental in avoiding creation of such inspection reports. You know that in the absence of a regular road inspection report being created by staff above anamolies will keep on happening because as per DDA official record everything is fine & perfect.

We have written many letters earlier as well highlighting above issues seeking your co-operation to address the problems but not getting a response. We, hereby, once again adavise you to issue immediate instruction for preparation of Regular Road Inspection Report by the field staff to bring on record all sorts of inefficiency & Corruption apparently visible on roads.

We eagrly await your response.

Please acknowledge. Thanks

Regards,

S K Goyal
Secretary – Dwarka Forum
D-103, Shivam Apartment,
Plot-14, Sector-12, Dwarka,
New Delhi-110078.

Encl: Sample 20 Points

Copy to. (i) Director Vigilance: With a request to seek explanation from CE(Dwarka) about the reasons for avoiding enforcement of 20 point inspection report. dirv...@dda.org.in (ii) Member Engineer: (a) With a request to seek explanation from CE(Dwarka) about the reasons for avoiding enforcement of 20 point inspection report & (b) Issue direction for preparation of 20 point road inspection report of all field staff for their respective jurisdiction. em...@dda.org.in (iii) Vice Chairmen: With a request to seek explanation from CE (Dwarka) about the reasons for avoiding enforcement of 20 point inspection report. vcdda@dda.org.in

Annexure A

1)     Whether any kerb stone/tile is uprooted or caved in on central verge or footpath,

2)     Is there any very high level of entry point of footpath requiring steps?

3)     Is there any obstruction of any kind on footpath creating problem for pedestrians?

4)     Whether any pothole is visible - if yes where and about what size?

5)     Are there any cracks in road to be filled or road caved in?

6)     Is there any missing man-hole or drain cover?

7)     Is there any work on road/footpath to be done within warranty period?

8)     Is there any falling pole, railing, wire, overhead sign board, tree branch, dead animal lying on road etc?

9)     Is there any dug up space on footpath or road inadequately barricaded or lying unattended for many days?

10)  Is there any broken or unpainted speed-breaker or zebra crossing?

11)  Is there any kind of encroachment on road or footpath?

12)  Is entry & exit points of footpath have appropriate poles fixed so as to prevent climbing of vehicles on it?

13)  Is there any requirement of signage?

14)  Is there any water logging, construction material, debris, damaged vehicle or any other kind of material lying on road?

15)  Is there any damage to any kind of street furniture?
16)  Is green belt free from malba?
17)  Is there any open space where tree can be planted?
18)  Are there any overflowing sewer requiring desilting?
19)  Is soil level in central verge/green strip is at least 2 inch below the edge of kerb stone?

20)  Any other issue, as per intelligence of concerned field staff,

On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 10:54:25 AM UTC+5:30, Sanjeev wrote:

	DWARKA FORUM Dwarka Ki Awaaz                                           (Regn No. S-63070)                                        (A Welfare Association of Residents & RWA's / CGHS Representatives of Dwarka Sub-City)
Regd. Office: 720, Pocket-1, Sector-14, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110078		Phone No. 011-20514195 E-mail: dwarkaforum@gmail.com www.dwarkaforum.org

                            No. SKG/CPCB/009         19 Jan 2017

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), New Delhi.

Member Environment Pollution Control and Prevention Authority (EPCA),

Dev Prakash Shastry Marg, Pusa,

New Delhi-110 012.  dcpth...@nic.in

Dear Sir,

Reg: Graded Response Plan Notified by Centre to Tackle Air Pollution in Delhi-NCR

This is to brig to your knowledge that the existing Odd Even Plan has certain inherent weaknesses which have the potential of make it a total failure. The degraded impact must have been noticed during second phase of this scheme implemented during April 2016. If this scheme is enforced in present form & shape, in times to come, it will have zero impact, rather actually worsen traffic situation in Delhi because this scheme is inducing people to buy more cars. It is like treating symptoms rather than disease.

We believe we all want a achieve following results: "Sustainable model to reduce air pollution in Delhi by reducing traffic load & congestion on roads."

If we agree that this is the goal we hereby provide much more effective way to achieve this:

Improved version of Odd Even Scheme:

The present odd even scheme have following 2 serious fundamental weaknesses: 

(i)     Second Car: Though it is a myth that ALL car owners would go for second car but the scheme has potential threat from affluent people those already possess 2 cars or can go for second one to beat the scheme meant for greater cause,

(ii)    Exemption to CNG: It is a common understanding that running of CNG vehicles do not cause pollution, therefore exempted from scheme but it may not be fully true as the gases emitted by it are even identified more dangerous causing cancer. In long run even people can go for CNG vehicles again turning all Delhi roads in a battle ground.

It is felt that there is a fine point in the whole exercise we are missing. The purpose of scheme is to reduce the volume of traffic on road which can result in increase in traffic speed and thereby reduce of jams & pollution. The pollution would reduce basis following parameters: 

(i)     There should be reduction in total number of vehicles running on road at a given point of time and

(ii)    The average time spent by vehicles on road to perform journey must reduce to result in lesser emission.

We have an idea which can take care of basic parameters to be achieved and can also effectively nullify the weakness in existing scheme. 

It is known fact that in India despite having very low car ownership ratio people spend maximum time on road apparently proving a case of traffic mis-management.

If we analyse the nature of traffic during peak hours we find the most of havoc on roads is created by private cars having single occupant, the bigger size SUVs contribute more.  When road space is short how can one person be allowed to occupy dis-proportionately high road area causing bottleneck for all other commuters? It is not that owning a car is a crime, but rationing is a very old concept and works effectively even today as well whenever needed. So point is why can't we ban running a private car with single occupant during peak hours? Ladies must also contribute to this noble cause. Otherwise also pollution is not gender sensitive and blows every one with equal force. The scheme could be as below:                                                                                     

(i)            No private car is allowed to run during peak hours with less than 3 human lives in it.

(ii)           The peak hours are 8-11 am and 4.30 to 8 pm from Monday to Friday except on gazette holidays declared by Center or State Govt.

Exemptions & Relaxations:

(i)            Senior citizens (with I card),

(ii)           Cars with 2 adult ladies or one lady and child under 10,

It may cause genuine hardship to some but priority now is to decongest roads and thereby pollution and also reduce time for people to spend on road amidst high pollution. The scheme will serve both the ends. No one even owning multiple cars can beat the plan and there will be no need for odd-even like scheme. This scheme can be straightway enforced in all cities of India where pollution level is in excess of safe limits. 

Since there is no restriction on running the cars except ensuring occupancy people will need to exert greater efforts to look for car-pooling.  In some days, 'demand & supply forces' will settle the pressure equally on public transport & car-pooling, thereby maintaining a balance. 

There are following simple & effective measures if taken can reduce traffic vows significantly: 

A.            On Road Parking: At present the major reason for congestion in Delhi roads in due to 'on road parking'. Though it is duty of traffic police to handle this, but for some unknown reasons they are not interested in taking effective action against such vehicles for reasons best known to them. As a result during a litigation when this issue was raised before National Green Tribunal, the tribunal forthwith issued directives to ban parking on all tar roads in Delhi. However, traffic police on record has refused to follow the orders and wide spread parking on roads continues thereby significantly reducing the road space for commutation of vehicles. In addition, there is a traffic police mobile application thru which public can report various offenses committed by vehicles but this application also does not cover in its list the crime of parking on road. During a police public meeting on 18^th Oct 2016 when this issue was raised the Commissioner Police promised from stage itself for inclusion of this in the list of reportable offenses by public thru mobile application but somehow TP does not want public to report this and has not included this in the mobile application so far. So our idea in this regard be divided into following action points: 

(a)           Make on road parking an offense punishable with fie of Rs.500/-,

(b)           Direct TP to include this as a reportable offense thru mobile application – Sentinel and

(c)           Pay incentive of Rs.20/- for each such reported offense to member of public

B.            Limit Number of Cars in city: Recent traffic studies have dis-regarded the fact that improvement in internal intra-city road network will lead to decongestion because vehicle population increases at much higher speed to fill the new space. More vehicles means more pollution – when already mankind is not able to breath due to extremely heavy pollution providing any direct or indirect incentive to procure more cars is not at all a good idea. Delhi perhaps has the most wide & dense road network as compared to any other city in India. Delhites are only waiting for this network to grow so that more cars can come on road. So important point is to find a sustainable solution to this problem and that can only is to limit the number of vehicle registration in any city. This idea has worked in other countries. 

C. In-efficient Traffic Signal Pattern: Delhi is reeling under highly inefficient traffic signal pattern. Signal don't follow traffic load but keep on maintaining same pattern. Be it festival holiday, morning evening, Sunday, school holiday traffic signal keep on functioning same way. There are dozens of factors impacting traffic flow in city but TP seems to be unaware of this. A whole lot of research is required to tape the huge potential for improvement in traffic signal pattern 

D. Promote 2 wheelers: A large part of pollution due to traffic is happening due to extra time vehicles have to stay on road and moving at snail pace. A few actions can lead a major impact on the city traffic landscape improve speed & reduce pollution. Since 2 wheelers consume much less space & fuel as compared to other mode of traffic, Govt. should come out with policies to promote its usage. At preset one has no incentive to use 2 wheeler as compared to 4 wheeler. These promotions could be in the form of giving them preferential treatment of road, and there could be several ways.

a)     Like keeping a dedicated lane for them on roads having 3 or more lanes so as to immune them from traffic jams,

b)    During peak hours creating dedicated corridors on opposite roads, wherever feasible, for 2 wheelers, the successful example of this is the old ITO bridge where for many years 2 wheelers used to get one additional lane in opposite carriage way during peak hours.

c)     Allowing them, all over Delhi, to go straight on a T point without stopping on red light live example (I) T point of Rani Jhansi Marg & New Rohtak Road, (II) Outer Ring Road & RTR. 

E. Break-Down: This has found to be a major nuisance on roads and it takes very long time before a vehicle is removed from road leading to prolonged crawling of traffic. Traffic Police has very inadequate infrastructure to deal with it. Procure & install additional crane on strategic locations all over Delhi. Besides, police stations these can be located on all the fire stations. Link this service with traffic police helpline. 

Hope due consideration would be given to above thoughts. 

Please acknowledge. Thanks. 

Regards, 

(S K Goyal)

D-103 Shivam Apts,

Plot-14, Sec-12,

Dwarka, N Delhi-110078.

Note: We would be filing RTI after 30 days to know the action taken on this petition.

Copy to: (i) Sh Chandraker Bharti, Secretary (Environmen & Forest), senv@nic.in (ii) Sunita Narain, Director General, Center For Science & Environment, sun...@csindia.org  (iii) Sh.Vikram Dev Dutt, (Principal Secretary cum-Commissioner) Transport Department,

Email: Creation of Road Safety Department in Delhi

On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 10:36:29 PM UTC+5:30, Sanjeev wrote:

13 Jan 2017

Secretary to The Committee,

Committee on Road Safety,

Room Number 249, Vigyan Bhawan Anex,

Maulana Azad Road,

New Delhi-110011. roadsa...@gmail.com

Dear Sir,

We have come across your letter no. F.No. 42/CoRS/2014 dated 16^th Nov 2015 advising Govt of Tenalgana about creation of separate department for Road Safety and make it operational by 31^st Mar 2016. Please inform whether similar departments are also to be made by other state Government including Delhi. It would be great if you could provide us a copy of such direction so that we can follow up with Delhi Government.

Thanks

S K Goyal

Gen Secretary – Dwarka Forum

Petition to suggest ways to bring improvement in Government functioning

On Saturday, January 28, 2017 at 11:29:17 PM UTC+5:30, Sanjeev wrote:

	DWARKA FORUM Dwarka Ki Awaaz                                           (Regn No. S-63070)                                        (A Welfare Association of Residents & RWA's / CGHS Representatives of Dwarka Sub-City)
Regd. Office: 720, Pocket-1, Sector-14, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110078		Phone No. 011-20514195 E-mail: dwarkaforum@gmail.com www.dwarkaforum.org

Email+ Hard Copy

Secretary General, Rajya Sabha,                                      No.  SKG/RS/011      28 Jan 2017
Parliament House,                                         
Delhi: 110001. secyg...@nic.in
                                                                                   
To

The councils of State, Rajya Sabha,

The petition of Sanjeev Kumar Goyal, Secretary Dwarka Forum,

Sheweth: Brief…Petition to suggest ways to bring improvement in Government functioning.

Description:  Forming a Suggestion Committee:

Sir, 

In our country many administrative arms have been put in place to handle 'pubic grievances' but there is no exclusive cell to consider & explore new suggestion citizens have in their mind. 

Almost every Govt. department is having a public grievance portal and as a central agency we have a full-fledged DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS & PUBLIC GRIEVANCES which has a public grievance portal. The issue with all such public grievance mechanisms provided by Government is that they don't handle any 'suggestion'. They are there to handle only complaints and any such letter sent to them in ONLY transferred to other department just like a prudent postman without devoting ay time or application of mind. Just by transferring letter the job of portal ends without any further responsibility. There is no system whereby such idea is deliberated & brain stormed by any team of officials to examine its suitability and implementation. 

Psychology of a person in-charge of complaint cell is totally different than that of working to examine a suggestion. For complaint cell every complaint is a burden and efforts are to get rid of it at the earliest whereas for review of a suggestion thinking with open mind is required, which is not possible for in-charge of complaint cell buried under tons of letters. So ideally complaint and suggestion cannot be handled by same person.

It is a human behavioral attribute that every human being wants to maintain status quo. No one easily let a reform enter in any system because change may be considered painful, at least initially, for some but also may adversely impact the vested interest of corrupt officials. 

Even if suggestions are sent these find way to dustbin because these are to be handled by persons who are already managing the show. There may be several reasons why such ideas are not examined: 

(i)            Any suggestion sent to any department about any existing process is seen by them as an invasion on their authority & intelligence,

(ii)           As a result of natural human behavior there is no inclination to accept change and there is heavy bias in favour of maintaining about status quo.

(iii)          Unlike grievances there is no necessity for department to conclude it and send a logical reply to applicant.

This is happening everywhere every new and improved efficient way of utilization of resources will hit economic interest of some Govt. official so he would never want that efficiency to come into being. If there is an improved technique of road construction it will hit the corrupt engineers or if there is better way of handling traffic – it will hit corrupt traffic police men so they will use all their force to not let it happen. When we suggest any improved road inspection report – PWD will not accept it because it will reduce corruption & fix responsibility for inefficiency. Only those reforms happen which are forced from top – so where public should go to with its ideas? 

In the absence of any official organ to accept suggestions for improvement of processes to bring higher level of efficiency or even telling Govt. to plug the loop hole in existing system to curb corruption – there is no one to listen it. Since every improvement in the process either hits personal interest of someone in the system or bring in limelight existing inefficiencies ALL efforts are made to reject it. There is very small section in bureaucracy those have courage to think about any new suggestions with open mind. 

Even the top posts in India i.e. the secretariats of President, Prime Minister, Governors, Chief Minister etc. are also functioning just like post offices. Any letter sent to them is just FORWARDED to other ministry/department and NOTHING is done - there is no one whose duty is to read those letters and take a decision about the idea. Suggestion letters are virtually lost among heavy number of letters received by the office of these high level functionaries. Full secretariat is behaving ONLY like a post man with no one to apply mind to the issues raised. Now with electronic mechanism actual transfers are done by machine and no one has any feel or sense about what is written in the letter and how significant it could be for country. In this manner huge public brain is going untapped, which can otherwise be channelized for the welfare of country at large.  

There are examples where for enforcement of valid ideas the doors of court had to be knocked when after years of correspondence with ministry we failed to yield any result. We have ideas about judiciary, road maintenance, environment protection, traffic management, education policy, tax laws, waste disposal, labour laws – but whom to tell? Several HUNDRED of our letters written to several public bodies in past have gone waste and there is no response whatsoever by anyone. 

Even the web portal mygov.in has several limitation. First one can express opinion only about the selected topic floated on the website second there is a limit of 500 characters (around 60-65 words only) – so how one can express everything with a limit of 60-65 words - it is hindering the free flow expression of users. Even otherwise there is a whole generation which does not use computers and there is still a large section of society for whom computer is a luxury not reachable within their means. Under such circumstances NON-Availability of any official channel to put forth valid thought through suggestions based on life experience is incalculable loss to the country. 

In our country where several million strong bureaucratic machinery is functioning not even one section is there to devote 'time' to discuss suggestions? 

PRAYER

1. The subject matter It is a Matter of General Public Interest, may please be examined in detailed as it concerns whole country,  2. We request that one EXCLUSIVE Central Committee/Cell/Section be constituted and publicized with following mandate where people of India can write their suggestions about improvement in any existing process or suggest new process:  (i)           Examine suggestions sent by public to improve existing processes for bringing greater efficiency in the system and forward its preliminary recommendation on such suggestions to concerned department for a time bound review AND response, (ii)           After getting response from concerned ministry, deliberate it. If required, discuss it will applicant or any other expert and take a decision. If accepted, send the idea to concerned Ministry for implementation with a copy of applicant. If rejected send rejection letter along with reasoning to applicant.

  

(S K Goyal)

General Secretary- Dwarka Forum

D-103 Shivam Apts, Plot-14,

Sec-12, Dwarka, New Delhi-110078

# 9891271854 cwa...@gmail.com

Copy to: vpi...@sansad.nic.in

Mail to NDMC: Reg: Standard Road Inspection Reporting.

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 9:43:41 PM UTC+5:30, Sanjeev wrote:

	DWARKA FORUM Dwarka Ki Awaaz                                           (Regn No. S-63070)                                        (A Welfare Association of Residents & RWA's / CGHS Representatives of Dwarka Sub-City)
Regd. Office: 720, Pocket-1, Sector-14, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110078		Phone No. 011-20514195 E-mail: dwarkaforum@gmail.com www.dwarkaforum.org

SKG/NDMC/025   31/Dec/2016

chairperson@ndmc.gov.in

New Delhi Municipal Council,

Sansad Marg,

Delhi-110001.

Dear Sir,

Reg: Standard Road Inspection Reporting.

It's a matter of every one's impression that road/footpaths maintenance in NDMC area is much better than rest of Delhi or may be rest of country. Such efforts are appreciated. However, when we critically look at it we find that these footpaths are still far away from being called even as near to perfect even from Indian laid down standard.

Just as an example please see photographs attached these will give glimpse that there are several silly mistakes existing on the footpaths in NDMC area. These glaring incidents can only happen if either the un-wise staff has been put to duty or they are sleeping.

After minutely observing the road conditions in Delhi and noticing higher standard silly mistakes committed by other municipalities we have devised a 20 point inspection report. I only walk thru a small stretch in NDMC area daily and find several such silly mistakes committed by staff in maintenance of footpaths. If implemented this 20 point Inspection Report can, to a great extent, bring harmony in the way road inspection is carried out by your staff and give them perspective about how to carry out road inspection. Depending on the staff strength you may decide the frequency of generation of such inspection report.

We are bringing this matter directly to your knowledge because this is a big change in the way engineering department is operating. This might force several employees to pull up their socks & mend their old ways to more efficient ways of operating. Being a change this can only be derived from top.

The list of 20 points are described below:

1)     Whether any kerb stone/tile is uprooted or caved in on central verge or footpath,
2)     Is there any very high level of entry point of footpath requiring steps?
3)     Is there any obstruction of any kind on footpath creating problem for pedestrians?
4)     Whether any pothole is visible - if yes where and about what size?
5)     Are there any cracks in road to be filled or road caved in?
6)     Is there any missing man-hole or drain cover?
7)     Is there any work on road/footpath to be done within warranty period?
8)     Is there any falling pole, railing, wire, overhead sign board, tree branch, dead animal lying on road etc?
9)     Is there any dug up space on footpath or road inadequately barricaded or lying unattended for many days?
10)  Is there any broken or unpainted speed-breaker or zebra crossing?
11)  Is there any encroachment on road or footpath?
12)  Is entry & exit points of footpath have appropriate poles fixed so as to prevent climbing of vehicles on it?
13)  Is there any requirement of signage?
14)  Is there any water logging, construction material, debris, damaged vehicle or any other kind of material lying on road?
15)  Is there any damage to any kind of street furniture?
16)  Is green belt/central verge free from malba/garbage?
17)  Is there any open space where tree can be planted?
18)  Are there any overflowing sewer requiring desilting?
19)  Is soil level in central verge/green strip is at least 2 inch below the edge of kerb stone to allow water to stay there for a while before being sucked by ground?
20)  Any other issue, as per intelligence of concerned field staff,

As a new-year resolution you may issue direction to Engineering department for the enforcement of this Inspection Report

Please acknowledge. Thanks You.

Regards,

S K Goyal

General Secretary,

Dwarka Forum.

Copy to: care@ndmc.gov.in