Days before BRT-II gets going,SC judges say it’s a roadblock

The second BRT run will assess which model works better — the new left avatar or the present one in which buses run along the central verge.

However,the apex court judges are concerned about the BRT’s Mathura Road stretch. Three gates of the Supreme Court open on this road. They have told Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta in a meeting on Wednesday that moving buses on the left carriageway might prove troublesome for them as they have to take a left to enter the Supreme Court from Bhagwan Dass Road. This might cause accidents,they reportedly have said.

Sources said the government had not thought of this ‘problem’ before. But it has to keep in mind the movement of 25 apex court judges and lawyers,officials said.

In fact,the Transport department has now been asked to work out a solution and see if a special route for judges can be squeezed out. A second meeting with them has been kept for Tuesday when judges will also meet Transport commissioner R K Verma,DIMTS Managing Director S N Sahai and Joint Commissioner (Traffic) S N Shrivastava.

R K Verma told Newsline: “The Supreme Court judges have not expressed any doubt about the BRT. They just want to know the arrangement for them.”

Transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said,“I will review the project and will ensure there are no loopholes this time.”

The second experiment was necessitated because the first 5.8 kilometre BRT stretch,between Ambedkar Nagar and Moolchand,had its own set of critics. The second run — the 8.7 kilometres between Moolchand and Delhi Gate — will only be for six months after which the most workable model will be adopted.

There will be no physical barriers to separate lanes in this trial. The other additions are the blue paint on bus lanes and the steel bus-queue shelters. The entire Ambedkar Nagar-Delhi Gate has come up at a cost of Rs 150 crore.

There are a few other quibbles about this model. There are six petrol pumps on the left,four with CNG dispensers,which usually see long queues. Sources also said vehicles that have to take the left cut will considerably use up bus space since there are as many as 80 entry and exit points on this stretch.