"A developed country is not one where the poor own cars but one where the rich use public transport," a Delhi high court bench noted.
A division bench comprising Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Manmohan Singh brushed aside criticism that the corridor had slowed down traffic and was causing jams.
"A developed country is not one where the poor own cars but one where the rich use public transport," the bench noted.
"Within the parameters of judicial review, the scattered material placed before us would not justify a conclusion that BRT as a concept is bad and is a misfit in Delhi and thus should be scrapped," the bench observed, saying the project was implemented for long term gains keeping in mind the growing population and lack of scope to expand the width of city roads.
HC's verdict will come as a shot in the arm to the state government which has received considerable flak for the BRT corridor, and will give a fillip to its plans to build more BRT projects across the city.
Dismissing NGO Nyaya Bhoomi's plea that BRT be scrapped since it harassed commuters and was a "complete wastage" of public money, the judges observed, "Even if we were to accept the argument that as of today...some inconvenience is being caused across the board to everybody, we have to keep in mind that planning is always lo ng-term and the fruits of the labour invested today may not be available in the immediate future."
The court said since there was no scope to expand the width of the existing roads and the population of Delhi was continuously rising, there is no escape from the fact that the Delhiites have to, one day or the other, use public transport. It warned that "unless traffic volume of cars is reduced one, would see nothing but misery on the streets of Delhi".
HC wants govt to fix Chirag Dilli crossing
A Central Road Research Institute study on the effectiveness of BRT, commissioned by an earlier HC bench, failed to impress the bench. Some of its key conclusions in favour of scrapping BRT were junked by the court when it took exception to the small sample size of the survey. The court said the undisputed fact that emerged from the survey report was that 50% of persons using the corridor travelled by bus.
The judges picked holes in the CRRI study, saying it had monitored just one bus to conclude public transport speeds had reduced after BRT. Similarly, it made light of CRRI's customer satisfaction poll that gave a higher rating to the pre-BRT set up.
After examining the report, the bench said the problem actually lay in the stretch from Sheikh Sarai to Chirag Dilli, which is only 900 metres long, out of a total of 5.8km. Since heavy traffic comes on the BRT at Sheikh Sarai and Chirag Delhi points, cars and buses divert to different routes, the bench said.
"It is hoped and expected that... the government of Delhi would look into the specific problem at Chirag Dilli crossing and would take all remedial measures necessary to decongest traffic there," the court said.
To the arguments that buses should ply on the left instead of the centre of the road, the court said, "Since it is a matter of policy, we cannot issue any direction but would highlight that a BRT corridor would require the buses to ply on the central median side because of the right turns which the buses have to take at the crossings and the signalling put in place."
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