Transport

Delhi collapses after 4 hours of rain

Be careful what you wish for ! Delhi and North India were bereft of rain during the first month of the rainy season. A bit about why Delhi is special. This is a city that is supposed to become a world class city, a city that will host the Commonwealth Games. It is the city that is the capital of a hot emerging economy, the city where people from over the world get their first glimpse of Delhi.
On 27/7/2009, the first major rainfall (major means this was 4 hours of rainfall, not 12 hours or something like that) brought this city to its knees. The news channels are full of roads being flooded, all the major intersections suffering heavy jams (including many areas of the New Delhi area that normally do not suffer traffic jams). Gridlock was the word, with many cases where people did not move beyond 100 meters in 2 hours.
What are the major causes of such a situation:
Read more…

Another accident at Delhi Metro construction, 6 dead

When an accident happened in October 2008 in the Metro construction in East Delhi in which one of the sections of the under construction metro collapsed, killing 2 people, it seemed like a one-off thing. It was still a major shock for the Delhi Metro project, since the corporation believes that it is one of the safest and most reliable project executors in India. However, it was clear for the people living in areas where the metro was being constructed, that no matter how important the metro was to the overall transport situation in Delhi, there were some compromises being made so that the main projects can be ready in time for the Commonwealth Games. For example, on some of the ongoing metro line construction, the proud claim of the DMRC that they would ensure that roads would remain tip-top was no longer true. Roads that the Metro corporation built after removing their barricades were not level with the current roads, and had ditches and potholes; in a couple of cases it would seem that the DMRC put barricades long before work was being started. Now, for a huge majority of construction areas, DMRC was still much better than the other construction agencies such as PWD, CPWD, etc, but it was clear that their quality levels were starting to slip.

Read more…

Consumer: What benefits do branded fuels bring ?

You must have seen this all the time. You go to a fuel pump, and they ask you whether you want the premium fuel (whether it is petrol or diesel); in some cases, they will tell you that the premium fuel is better for your engine, as well as for the mileage of your vehicle. The fuel will have the name of ‘Premium’, ‘Turbo’, or ‘Speed’, all designed to make sure that you feel that you are taking a fuel much better than the traditional fuel. The television advertisements are all designed to project the same thing, with the fuel supposed to have additives that smoothen the engine, and deliver many other benefits.
Months back, when fuel prices were very high, the oil companies were actually forcing higher consumption of these branded fuel through greater marketing campaigns, as well as through actual constriction of supply of the non-branded fuel at the fuel pumps. So, what is the reality of these branded fuels ? Do their consistent campaigns have any real substance to them ? Does your vehicle benefit if you use such fuels ? Well, the MRTPC did a study, and found that there was no evidence to backup these claims (link to article):

Read more…