THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHIWEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 20124 TIMES CITY

Indrani Basu TNN

New Delhi: There will bemore traffic diversions inplace today on a temporarybasis at ITO. As an experi-ment, traffic coming fromMinto Road towards ITO willhave to take a compulsoryleft turn before Vishnu Di-gamber Marg to Kotla Road.No traffic on this stretch willbe allowed to go straight to-wards ITO, and commuterswill have to take a circuitousroute via Kotla Road, take aU-turn on Bahadurshah Za-far Marg and take a left to Vi-kas Marg. Traffic police be-lieve that this will reduce thesignal time on the main ITOintersection.

“This will be done on anexperimental basis onWednesday and if success-ful, we will continue thesame. If the earlier planproves better, we will revertback.

“A major ITO diversionplan is already in place, theseare just measures to fine tunethe situation. It was foundthat there is a clash betweenvehicles from ITO and thosefrom Minto Road both turn-ing from Deen Dayal Upad-hyay Marg to Vishnu Digam-ber Marg,” said SatyendraGarg, joint commissioner ofpolice (traffic).

This means that thosecoming from New Delhi Rail-way Station and ConnaughtPlace towards ITO will haveto take a left from DDU Margtowards Kotla Marg beforeVishnu Digamber Marg. Thenarrow three-lane road willbe made one-way for vehiclesto travel to Kotla Marg, take aright towards BahadurshahZafar Marg, and take a U-turn to reach the ITO redlight.

Already, there is a long

line of vehicles waiting ev-eryday at the ITO red light onBahadurshah Zafar Margwhile travelling from DelhiGate. The additional load of

traffic diverted from DDUMarg to Bahadurshah ZafarMarg will only increase thewaiting time at the signal,fear commuters.

“I travel from my office atBahadurshah Zafar Marg tomy Mayur Vihar residenceand it takes a lot of timecrossing the ITO junction.Despite the fact that there is asignalized left slip-road atthe intersection, it takes meconsiderable time to crossthe junction. I have to waitwith the straight-movingtraffic because the left turnis too narrow and there arealways a large number ofbuses blocking the left turn.Sometimes it takes three sig-nal cycles to cross the leftturn,” said Kaushal, a com-muter.

Traffic police said theyhad planned the diversionskeeping in mind the largenumber of commuters fromTilak Marg to ITO.

Cops to experiment withmore traffic curbs at ITO

MORE TRAFFIC DIVERSIONSToday commuters from Minto Road will have to take a compulsory left turn before VD Marg

N e w

D e l h i

Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg

Sh

akt

i Ma

rg

Kotla Marg

Tilak Bridge

Vis

hn

u D

iga

mb

er M

arg

Bahadurshah Zafar Marg

Traffic coming from Delhi Gate

Delhi police Headquarters

Gandhi Peace Foundation

Bal Bhawan

National commission for women

Towards Supreme Court

DMRC construction

area

Part of the road blocked due to construction

Compulsory left turn for traffic coming from MintoBridge

RTE giant leap blurs class lines Neha Pushkarna | TNN

Little Manshi’s journey from

the twisted filthy lanes of Bapa Nagar in Karol Bagh to a polished English-medi-um school across the road

is a giant leap for her fam-ily. All of five years, she has

assured her parents a better future. Manshi goes to Springdales School at Pusa Road, a privilege her father’s mea-gre income could not provide. But thanks to Right to Education enforced on April 1, 2010, Manshi could secure a seat in nursery last year under the com-pulsory quota for the economically

weaker section. Her parents’ income is still Rs 4,800 per month, but RTE has induced in them the power to dream.

“There were thousands of applica-tions for a seat under this quota. But

when Manshi’s name was announced in the lucky draw, I could not believe my luck. Mujhe aisa laga jaise ab mera future ban gaya (I felt as if my future were made),” said her mother

Renu Singholia. She was almost grinning ear to ear while saying this, her

own discontented child-hood notwithstanding. “I

wanted to continue stud-ying after school. But my parents could not afford. But I wanted my daugh-ter to go to a good school and had it not been for RTE, we couldn’t have

ever afforded a private

school education for her. My Manshi is smarter

and more disciplined than all other kids in the

neighbourhood,” admit-ted Renu, who stitches

clothes for neighbours to earn her pocket money, while her husband, Vijay, does field job for a pri-vate company.

It’s been two years of RTE, which mandates that all private schools should reserve 25% seats for EWS at the entry level. But a lot of debate persists on the efficacy and logic of roping in private schools. While some say the rule has taken away autonomy of private unaided schools to some extent, others, though willing to implement RTE, complain it will translate into a financial burden for them. Around eight private school asso-ciations had even petitioned against the quota but it was struck down by the Su-preme Court two weeks ago, much to the delight of ambitious-but-poor parents.

“We could have got our children ad-mitted to government schools. But then they would be no better than us, consider-ing the quality of education there. I do not have enough money but my daughter studies in Bloom Public School, my elder son is in Ryan International and the youngest son got through in Vasant Val-ley this year,” said a beaming Rajesh Khanna, who works as a driver with a filmmaker. Sitting in a dingy cramped one-room house in Rangpuri Pahari near Vasant Kunj, his daughter Anjali was quick to add, “I want to become a doctor

as I want to be of help to others.” She spoke in an accent picked up at school and admired with awe at home.

While her youngest brother is also a beneficiary of RTE, she herself is an

example of what this new fundamental right proposes to achieve. Now in Class

IV, Anjali got admission under the free-ship quota in 2006 following the Delhi government directive. According to the rule, every private school would have to reserve at least 15% seats for EWS in all classes if it had been allot-ted land by DDA at a concessional rate.

“It was in their land deeds with DDA

that they would have to reserve seats for the poor in lieu of the concession they get. Though the schools were al-lotted lands as far back as 1960s, no school implemented the quota till 2004,” said Ashok Aggarwal, advocate and education activist. He recalled filing a

petition in the high court in 2002 follow-ing which an order was passed on J a n u a r y 2 4 , 2004, making it compulsory to teach poor chil-dren for free.

“We gave a list of 265 socie-ties which had been allotted

land for build-ing schools. In 2007, the high court allowed them to reserve

up to 15% seats if they gave an

u n d e r t a k i n g

that they would

indeed follow the rule. Since then, nearly one lakh poor students have benefited from the scheme,” said Ag-garwal, who also insists that while

unaided minority schools have been

spared by the Supreme Court from

implementing RTE, they should at least continue reserving the EWS seats

as per the land deed. The matter is

likely to come up for hearing in the

high court on April 27.If schools and state governments

start treating RTE as a responsibility and not a rule, education might just win over poverty. That’s what beginning to happen with Maulana Abdul Momin of Nayi Basti in Bara Hindu Rao. With a monthly salary of Rs 5,000 and eight children, life was an unending struggle. Till their second-last child, 14-year-old Nida Khanam, started going to Modern School at Barakhamba Road under a special scholarship by the Modern School Old Boys’ Association.

“There were apprehensions in the community but I was desperate to pro-vide good education to my daughter. She wants to become a doctor now and I will do whatever it takes to fulfill her dream. I had to walk down to the school three years ago to get an application form as I had no money for the fare. I am sure things will change,” Momin said.

Firoz Bakht Ahmed, a teacher at Mod-ern School, added, “There is a lot of talk about RTE but most of the private schools are taking it as enforcement. We have been teaching poor children for many years and they settle really well. Even others learn to be sensitive and that’s the beginning of a better society.”

It’s not money but education that is changing lives of the poor in the city. Three full meals a day may still be a challenge, but their children study in the best schools thanks to a compulsory quota for the economically weaker section. They are living the promise that Right to Education holds…

EWS quota has triggered much debate on the efficacy and logic of roping in pri-vate schools, many of whom complain that this will create financial bur-den for them

NEELU DEVI AND ASHOK KUMARSunlight Colony, Ashram

Monthly Income

Rs 4,800No. of children

TwoJyoti Kumari (15)DPS Mathura Road

Vijay Kumar (13)The Indian School

I feel no less than a king. I never

wanted my children to wander aimlessly. Good schooling will take them far | ASHOK KUMAR

RENU ANDVIJAY SINGHOLIABapa Nagar, Karol Bagh

Monthly Income

Rs 4,800Manshi (5) | Springdales School, Pusa Road

I wanted to continue studying after school but

my parents could not afford it. When my daughter got admission in Springdales, I wanted to jump in joy | RENU SINGHOLIA

MANJU ANDRAJESH KHANNARangpuri Pahari near Vasant Kunj

Monthly Income

Rs 7,500Anjali (9) | Bloom Public School

Harsh (6) | Ryan Intl School

Lakshay (3) | Vasant Valley School

Photos: Yogesh Kumar and Rajesh Mehta

AYESHA AJMALI ANDMD ARIF AJMALIBara Hindu Rao

Monthly Income

Rs 7,500Ifra Ajmali (13) | ModernSchool, Barakhamba Road

Others | Neighbourhood schools

RABIA BEGUM ANDABDUL MOMIN KHANBara Hindu Rao

Monthly Income

Rs 5,000Nida Khanam (14) | Modern School, Barakhamba Road

Others | Neighbourhood school

No. of children

One

No. of children

Three

No. of children

Eight

No. of children

Five

Three years ago, I had no clue where Connaught Place was. Today,

I regularly go there for parent-teacher meetings. It’s all because of my daughter. She wants to become a doctor and I will do whatever it takes | ABDUL MOMIN KHAN

I had never imagined

my children could go to such big schools. I failed in Class X but when my daughter talks in English, I feel so proudRAJESH KHANNA

Whenever people in

the community come to know where my daughterstudies, their jaws dropARIF AJMALI

Indrani Basu TNN

New Delhi: As part of a Cen-tral Road Research Institute(CRRI) study on BRT, the opin-ion of 10,000 road users will becollected and analyzed. CRRIhas decided to visit nearby es-tablishments such as the Sa-ket court complex, markets,schools, colleges and offices.

“We have around 20 moredays for the study and are con-fident that we will be able toget views of 10,000 people. Wehave designed the forms tomake it user-friendly and aretargeting those who use theBRT corridor. The forms havebeen divided in such a man-ner that there is proportion-

ate number of forms for eachkind of road user,” said an of-ficial.

The form for each user isdesigned according to hisneeds. Car users are beingasked how long they have towait at the various intersec-tions and their travel time be-tween one point of the corri-dor and another. Questionsfor car users include those ontheir average speed, delay andexperience on the stretch be-fore and after the BRT corri-dor.

Meanwhile, pedestriansand bus users are being askedon the placement of buses, pe-destrian crossing facilities,perceived danger on the road

and travel time for buses. Autoand taxi users are being askedabout their time loss after theintroduction of BRT and thedifficulty of finding autos onthe route.

Residents, school and of-fice-goers of the area are be-ing asked what their prob-lems with the current BRTsystem are and their suggesti-ons for the future of the corri-

six to four or three, as it is forother routine intersections,said officials. Though majorcosmetic changes on the cor-ridor are not possible, theagencies will be trying theirbest to place signages so thatthe stretch can function as aregular corridor.

“Ideally, a soft launch isplanned on Sunday to assessthe situation and address ini-tial problems. From Monday,the traffic movement will besurveyed,” said an official.

Starting Monday, all traf-fic turning right will be al-lowed to travel on the lanenext to the central verge,which is as of now reservedfor buses.

dor.Meanwhile, CRRI is al-

ready planning the finalphase of their field survey,which will be the study of theBRT corridor between Mool-chand and Ambedkar Nagaras a regular road stretch. Forthis, road markings have beenplanned. The agencies con-cerned will be aiming to placethese markings by Sunday.

There will be temporarydividers placed along the cor-ridor to streamline traffic,said officials. The bus lane onBRT will be used for right-turning vehicles and signageswill be placed accordingly.Signal cycles on all the inter-sections will be reduced from

BRT survey: 10,000 commuters on boardCar users are beingasked how longthey have to wait atthe variousintersections,among other things

The Delhi traffic police need tostep very carefully here. Theevidence of the first couple ofdays of functioning of the newdiversions in the ITO area hasbeen, by all accounts, quitepositive. That being the case, itis best to stick to the dictum“why fix it if it ain’t broke”.Given the complexities ofmanaging traffic, particularlyat an intersection as busy asITO, it might well take a fewmore days for things to settledown. But as long as there is nomajor chaos, there is really noreason why the police shouldexperiment any further. Theyare best advised to wait andwatch.

Times View

naapto[.1

BUY I GET IF I