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A Post-Modern Move:
Megalomaniac intent on
gifting Punjab with a Metro
By The Contrarian
Megalomania is the
flavor of the season in Punjab, and with the man called Sukhbir
Singh Badal at the helm, no discussion is complete unless there are
a few bridges, choppers, fighter jets, sun and moon thrown in. The
young man is in a hurry and is racing breathlessly towards the Chief
Ministership, but before he achieves what he does not deserve, he
must impress the common folk, or create a pretence about it.
 Part of this
exercise has been the latest hair brained idea of equipping Punjab
with nothing less than the clown version of the London Underground.
A Tube from Lambi to Chandigarh is what Sukhbir would probably like,
but for the time being he has stopped at talking about Rs 3000 crore
splash on what is called Metro Rail in Punjab.
The Punjab
Government has signed an MoU for developing metro rail project in
Ludhiana and Sukhbir has called it "post-modern technology".
Post-modernism is not part of Sukhbir's lexicon, and he will have to
pore over many a tomes to understand that it is something different
from post-mortem, but the fact remains that no thought has been
given as to who will bear this burden Rs 3,000 crore. Sukhbir may
need not do so, but the others too have forgotten to add the cost of
rolling stock.
Was a rail based
mass rapid transit system must, or wouldn't we have done much better
with a bus rapid transit system in cities like Ludhiana, Mohali,
Amritsar? It would have been done without changing much of existing
road infrastructure. Construction cost of 1 km elevated metro line
is almost 35 times higher than a dedicated bus lane. Buses give
better node to node connectivity through open and closed system.
Construction of
metro will disturb the skyline of the city and the best example is
Chaura Bazar flyover, which has almost spoiled the entire city
structure of Ludhiana without changing much improvement in city's
congestion situation. Another point of debate can be, metro is
required to cater the future demand; but future demand can be very
well addressed by developing a better master plan for the city,
where people need to travel lesser distance from workplace to home.
Better planning can also result in reduced congestion and pollution
due to vehicles.
Delhi Metro data
reveals that metro is a viable option where people travel the
corridor in one direction, more than intra city demand. It should be
at least 20,000 persons per hour. Population density of Ludhiana per
sq.kms is 804 persons in comparison to Delhi's population density
9,296 persons per square kilometer. With the population density 11
times higher than of Ludhiana, if Delhi metro is not able to
generate half of its estimated users, then how will Ludhiana be
viable. Unless of course Sukhbir issues a command that Ludhiana
Akali workers must ride the train along with their families at all
times of the day and night. After all, with a leader like Sukhbir,
who will say no to a little tube ride? Tube light is almost a
Punjabi word now, and everyone knows what it means. For someone
enamored of seeing post-modern idea in a metro for Punjab, it will
just fit very well. Ride on it, Sukhbir, towards the Chief
Ministership. Papa is waiting. His Panth too. Why not name it
Panthic Rail Gaddi?
17
October, 2007
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