4/2010

I N S I D E

Food Adulteration

Parking Woes Hit Traffic

Meters to Curb Power Theft

Licenses for Street VendorsPradeep S Mehta, Secretary General

Where are Our Roads!The level of progress of any city is judged by the conditions of its

roads and footpaths. If we look at the Pink City from this perspective,then there arises a feeling of immense disappointment. Doubts aboutthe city becoming world class creep in one’s mind.

Rules and guidelines exist for construction and maintenance of cityroads but the problem arises when engineers/contractors turn a blindeye towards the same at the time of implementation. The citizens areforced to pay for this callous attitude that result in poor roads. In orderto hide their carelessness, a layer of pitch (damar) is laid by them every year bringing inits wake attendant problems like the level of footpaths (where they exist) becoming thesame as that of the road, man-holes of sewers on the road causing bumps. Importantly,this results in increase of road accidents – often fatal ones.

Further, footpaths in Jaipur, if at all they exist, are largely unusable on account ofpoor design and maintenance. More distressingly, these are being lost due to roadwidening. There are few, if any, facilities for pedestrians to cross roads safely andconveniently. The pedestrian environment is so severely vitiated that walking, the mostnatural of human activities, has become an extremely unpleasant and hazardous activity.

A study entitled, ‘Traffic Calming Strategies to Improve Pedestrian Safety in India’was carried out by CUTS to identify safety related problems for pedestrians. However,the measures suggested under the study have not been implemented by the relevantauthorities till date.

The recent spell of rains in Jaipur swept away roads at various locations – they areno longer all-weather roads. The most crowded roads have been hit severely as thesewere prone to water logging when they were constructed. Entire portions of roadshave caved at various locations posing danger for the passing traffic, particularly aftershowers when they fill up with water.

Civic agencies are yet to wake up and are expected to take stock of the conditionof roads in the city after the monsoons by carrying out repairs. An official at therestoration site near Sodala said the quality of patchwork and filling of potholes couldnot be compared with the full fledged carpeting. Just before the arrival of monsoon theJaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) and Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) usuallyundertake the work of patching up the roads, including streets and by-lanes, in orderto control the damage. However, except for the main roads, it was skipped this yeardue to JMC’s financial crisis.

Given the pathetic condition of the city roads, questions have been raised aboutthe quality of work done by the civic agencies. Heavy rains have been blamed. Thisyear the monsoon in Jaipur is about 15 percent above the long-term average; thus, itwas ‘normal’ as per the Metrological Department.

Meanwhile, the JDA Commissioner, Sudhansh Pant, after reviewing road conditions,ordered disciplinary action and suspended three senior engineers for negligence inmaintenance of roads. Further, the Commissioner has provided assurance of takingeffective steps in future to improve the conditions of roads of the city.

Recent directives have banned all kinds of digging along the roads by any agencyexcept under exceptional circumstances. As matters stand, citizens have to wait longerbefore they have a smooth ride on the city roads or able to walk safely on the footpaths(if they are built).

Dainik Bhaskar

| 2 | City Matters • 4/2010

In the LimelightIn the LimelightIn the LimelightIn the LimelightIn the Limelight

The people of the state, even afterfacing price rise of food items, are

not certain about their quality. There isno state or city where adulteration hasnot been done. Adulterants are addedintentionally to substances to increasevisible qualities and/or for some othermisleading purpose.

Adulterants may be laughing at thosegovernment-led initiatives across thecountry, which run campaigns toprevent adulteration, and undertheir nose they are sell ingsubstandard products.Government’s intention issuspected: whether they arebenefiting the people or providingshelter to the adulterants. Thisquestion should be raised beforethe representatives of the peoplebecause adulteration has beentransformed into an organisedcrime and yet governments areunable to decide whoseresponsibil ity is to preventadulteration. Is it the Health or theFood, Civil Supply & ConsumerAffairs Department?

In a major operation against adulteratedfood items, the Medical and HealthDepartment of the Government ofRajasthan recently raided two places atGopalji Ka Raasta and seized 610 kgs ofspurious mawa. The officials immediatelydestroyed it and legal proceedings willbe initiated under Section 44 AA of thePrevention of Food Adulteration Act iffound adulterated.

Food AdulterationA Menace that Nobody Cares About

The Health Department also conducteda special campaign to ensure betterquality of frozen food products, colddrinks and other beverages and stopother malpractices such as black-marketing and cheating in weights andmeasures. A state-level committee hasbeen formed to review the progress ofthe campaign every 15 days and ensurecomplete elimination of adulteration.More than 4,736 ice-cream factories,

juice shops and other places involvedin manufacturing milk products wereinspected and samples were collected foranalysis.

Over 20 officials inspected the storagesof wholesale fruit sellers, and recoveredmore than 100 kgs of calcium carbide.The use of this chemical, which is acancer-inducing agent, has been

prohibited for artificial ripening of fruitsbut it is rampant all over the country.Such chemicals used for adulteration areharmful to health and could lead tomulti-system failure, including kidneyfailure. Consumption of adulterated gheeand vegetables could lead to dropsydisease and in some cases even death.

The Food, Civil Supply & ConsumerAffairs Department is conducting Shudh

ke liye Yudh Campaign, which ismarred by various controversies.During the Campaign, it was foundthat the negligence of hygiene themost common violation followedby the use of prohibited chemicals.Though the adulterated materialswere seized and destroyed on thesite, legal action against the culpritshas to wait till the arrival of testreports and existing testingfacilities are very few.

A study carried out by CUTSrecently in 12 districts of Rajasthanunder the Grassroots Reachout &Networking in Rajasthan throughConsumer Action (GRANIRCA)project noted that system of

controlling food adulteration is veryweak (see Box). The study found thatthe problem of adulterated and sub-standard food items remains theforemost concern of the consumers. Aproper and timely analysis of samples,which is crucial for booking the offenders,was found to be lacking. Only 26 percentof adulteration cases were disposed ofwithin the prescribed period.

Districts Population Food(in lakh) Inspectors

Banswara 1,500,420 1Chittorgarh 1,802,656 2Bundi 961,269 2Kota 1,568,580 3Jodhpur 2,880,777 2Jalore 1,448,486 1Churu 1,922,908 –Tonk 1,211,343 2Dhaulpur 982,815 2Alwar 2,990,862 8Dausa 1,316,790 2Sikar 2,287,229 3

4/2010 • City Matters | 3 |

BriefsBriefsBriefsBriefsBriefs

Jaipur - an Animation HubThe Pink city is all set to leave

Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata behind inthe race for becoming the country’sbiggest and the best animation hub.Known for its exports in traditionalfabrics, gems jewellery and handicrafts,the heritage city will soon add animationin its list of exports.

Jaipur will shortly have a world classmega gaming and animation centre, withstate-of-the-art facilities housed in first-of-their-kind twin towers. Rajasthan StateIndustrial Development and InvestmentCorporation Limited (RIICO), has tied upwith Laser Infomedia for setting up largescale gaming cum animation centre atSitapura.

The cost of setting up the studio isestimated at R260.10 crore and theallotment of land in Sitapura falls underthe powers of the state government. Theproject, with its unique features, is goingto be first-of-its-kind in the country givingemployment to over 3,000 people andgenerating export earnings of aboutR500crore. (RP, 11.05.10)

Parking Woes Hit TrafficThe introduction of about 190 low

floor buses in the city has brought respiteto thousands of daily commuters, whohave been deprived of a proper publictransport system for long. However, onsome of the routes, especially the walledcity, the movement of these big busescauses major traffic hassles.

One of the reasons is unauthorisedparking outside the shops, which takesup most of the road space, leaving littlefor traffic movement. The traffic policeon duty in the area also agree. The JMCdoes not seem to be in a mood to removethe unauthorised parking from the sidesof the roads.

Meanwhile, Malini Agarwal, ManagingDirector of the Jaipur City TransportService Limited (JCTSL) said, “We areopen to suggestions from public toimprove our services, and have receivedrequests for plying these buses on moreroutes even in the city”. (ToI, 23.06.10)

15000 Families to be DisplacedIn order to make Jaipur slum free,

15000 families will be displaced. Peopleliving in 22 settlements will be relocatedto Jaisinghpura. A proposal is being madeby the JDA for the same. GS Sandhu,Principal Secretary, Urban Development

Department said that these settlementsare at important places and it wasnecessary to relocate the people.

The JDA will spend an average ofR2lakh to construct houses and providebasic amenities to the families which willbe relocated. A budget of R300crore isavailable for the same and the CentralGovernment is also likely to providesome funds. (DB, 18.05.10)

Need a Lesson in SanitationJaipur needs to take a lesson in

cleanliness from cities such as Chennai,Nagpur and Delhi. Even thoughChennai and Delhi are bigger than Jaipurand produce much more waste, they arecleaner than Jaipur. Even Nagpur, whichhas half the number of sanitation

e m p l o y e e scompared toJaipur, scoresbetter in termsof cleanliness.

The JMC isdivided intoeight zones

and two more are proposed to be added.There are 77 wards and the city’spopulation is over 30 lakh. In spite of ahuge spending, nothing seems to havehappened as far as cleanliness of the cityis concerned. Private companies areresponsible for transporting waste inurban areas. Contract has been givenfor three wards in Mansarovar area.

Due to lack of co-ordination andmonitoring, the garbage is lifted once inthree or four days. Poor drainage systemensures water logging in the rainyseason. A garbage treatment plant inLangadiyavas and a biodegradable wastetreatment plant in Khori Rupana havebeen put up. Garbage is dumped atMathuradaspur on Delhi road andSewapura on Sikar road. (DB, 04.05.10)

JDA to Take Over Ring RoadThe JDA on the direction of the state

government has decided to take overthe project of building Ring Road fromNational Highways Authority of India(NHAI). A proposal will be sent for thesame to the Urban DevelopmentDepartment. JDA commissioner,Sudhanshu Pant has directed the officialsto prepare a construction model.

It may be recalled that the ChiefMinister, Ashok Gehlot, in his 2009’sbudget speech announced that

construction work of the Ring Road willbe given to NHAI, after which NHAI hadalso obtained records from the JDA.However, no further progress has beenmade in last one year. (RP, 02.06.10)

Slow Pace of Medical ServicesEmergency cases for CT scan and

MRI centre at Sawai Mansingh Hospitalhave to wait for up to 24 hours to getthe test done. The centre is being run as

public-private partnership (PPP). Aperson accompanying patient namedRampyari said that the doctor had askedfor an MRI test in the morning, but theappointment for the same was given for10.18 pm. Considering the ill health ofthe patient and the heat, it was verydifficult to wait for so long.

When asked why emergency patientswere being asked to wait for long, thehospital superintendent said that therewas a provision of giving immediateattention to emergency patients and hewill find out the reason as to why theywere being asked to wait. (RP, 28.05.10)

Meters to Curb Power TheftElectricity department will now keep

a tab on the power consumption ofconsumers having more than one airconditioner. Extra meters will be installedon service lines at electricity poles. Thiswill show the difference between thereadings of twometers and ifsubstantial differenceis found, action will betaken against theerring consumers. Allthe divisions havebeen asked to monitorconnections withthree phases and also which are usingmore than one AC.

Various experiments have been doneby Jaipur Discom to put an end to thepower theft but the same have notyielded any results. Consumers have alsoadopted new methods to control theirelectricity bills. (DB, 30.05.10)

BriefsBriefsBriefsBriefsBriefs

City MattersCity MattersCity MattersCity MattersCity Matters is a Bi-monthly newsletter published by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302 016, India,Phone: 91.141.228 2821, Fax: 91.141.228 2485 Email: cuts@cuts.org, Web site: www.cuts-international.org, and printed by Jaipur Printers P. Ltd., Jaipur, India.CUTS offices also at Kolkata, Chittorgarh and New Delhi (India); Lusaka (Zambia); Nairobi (Kenya); Hanoi (Vietnam); London (UK); and Geneva (Switzerland).

Sources: DB: Dainik Bhaskar; DNA: Daily News & Analysis; HT: Hindustan Times; RP: Rajasthan Patrika; ToI: Times of India

Power Cuts Cause Water WoesErratic electricity supply is not only

causing inconvenience to the consumers,but alsocontributing toglitches in thewater supply.Almost 1,200tube wells of thewater worksdepartment aregetting directly

adversely impacted by this.If these tube wells are shut down for

two hours everyday, then people in thecity will receive 20 million less water.There are 1,850 tube wells in the cityout of which 650 are directly connectedto the feeder from the ElectricityDepartment, hence power cuts do notaffect them. (DB, 16.05.10)

Three Level Traffic in JaipurJaipur will now have a three level

traffic system for almost 2.5 kms onAjmer Road. In the new model, while thetopmost level will be used by metrotrains, the middle portion will be fornormal traffic while Bus Rapid TransitSystem (BRTS) buses will ply on thelowest level.

To implement BRTS , 400 buses haveto be inducted out of which 220 willcater to the needs of the city while 160have been earmarked for the suburbsand 20 have been allocated for tourism.An elevated road will also beconstructed from Panipech to Khasakothi.It will run from Chinkara Canteen toCollectorate and Khasa Kothi. (DB, 27.05.10)

Three Storey Parking ComplexThe JDA has given approval for the

construction of underground parkingcomplex in Ramnivas Bagh. A threestoried complex, costing aroundR30crore will be built where space willbe provided for parking of 800 cars. JDAwill also construct a mini marketcomprising 20 shops in the subway.These shops will be sold through theauction model.

The parking was earlier expected tobe built on Build Operate Transfer withspace for 1200 cars. But now this planhas been amended and JDA willimplement the project itself. (DB, 25.05.10)

Fine for Polluting Jaldhara Littering at the tourist spot Jaldhara

will be dealt with strictly, the JDCSudhansh Pant said. Those foundp o l l u t i n gthe water orbathing atthe artificialf o u n t a i n swill bec h a r g e dR100 while dumping plastic bottles andlittering will attract a fine of R50.Additional security guards will bedeployed at the tourist spot.

The officials said that soon noticeboards warning visitors not to pollutethe site will be installed and the remainingportion of the boundary will be coveredwith bamboo screens. JDA will also install10 solar power lights at Jaldhara. Theofficials were also concerned about rainyseason as flash floods could hit the spot.

(ToI, 22.05.10)

Swanky Stops for Low-floor BusesJaipur will soon get metro train-like

stations where the city buses can stop.In an effort to upgrade the city transportsystem, theJCTSL is all setto construct512 bus stopson differentl o c a t i o n sacross Jaipur,which will be quite similar to the Metrostations in Delhi.

The size of the bus stops will dependon the availabil ity of land in theparticular area. The larger the size of landavailable, the larger would be the busstop in that area. 170 low-floor busesare operational in the city.

Meanwhile, the JCTSL also plans toplace CCTV cameras in its 170 low- floorluxury buses in a bid to boost securityin these buses. The company will alsolaunch smart cards for the commuters,incident and emergency managementsystem and central control system.

(DNA, 18.06.10)

SWM on Lines of PuneTo bring sanitation up to the mark

in Jaipur, the JMC will set up a plant onthe suggestion of the Supreme Court on

Municipal Solid Waste (Management andHandling) Rules. To understand theworking of solid waste management(SWM) system better, Jyoti Khandelwal,Mayor, Jaipur and RP Jain, ChiefExecutive Officer, JMC studied Pune’sMunicipal Solid Waste plant.

This plant would convert garbageinto fertiliser. After this has been built inJaipur, city’s 85 percent waste will berecycled into fertiliser or fuel. Anawareness campaign would also beconducted in the city in this regard.

(DB, 06.05.10)

Bad Condition of JK LoneA budget of R14 crore has been

sanctioned to make J K Lone Hospital,the best children super specialty hospitalin Asia. However, the present conditionsin the hospital are not very encouraging.The hospital does not have its ownambulance and in case of emergency anambulance from SMS Hospital is called.

The hospital also lacks adequatenumber of ICU and ventilators. To makematters worse, there is no blood bankin the hospital and people have to visitSMS Hospital to arrange for blood whenneed arises. Accessing the hospital isalso not easy as the main gate is reservedfor doctors. (RP, 04.05.10)

Licenses for Street VendorsSoon Jaipur’s street vendors will be

seen operating out of fancy stalls. Theywill be provided with the license, whichwill ensure that the food at their stall ishygienic and healthy. The NGOH a h n e m a n nC h a r i t a b l eMission Societyalong with theJMC andMinistry of FoodProcessing hasstarted with the survey of these foodvendors. About 700 stalls have beensurveyed out of 1800.

While providing the new mobile stallsto these food vendors, the NGO andboth the government department plansto grant a loan as each mobile stalls costsR40,000. This udgradation of street foodplan also includes the plan to provideinsurance to the families of these streetvendors. (HT, 02.06.10)