Anand Vihar hotspot: New Parking and congestion due to buses

The authorities are also considering increasing the time period for allowing buses inside the bus terminus during the pollution season to tackle the congestion.

In an attempt to tackle the congestion due to parking of buses and heavy vehicles at Anand Vihar, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning a parking facility of around 150 buses on the main Anand road, the civic body said in a statement.

During the inspection, a senior municipal official said, eight buses were found parked improperly on the road which obstructed smooth traffic flow. (HT archive)

The pollution hotspot was inspected by senior municipal officials during which the issue of parking problems was also reviewed. Meanwhile, the authorities are also considering increasing the time period for allowing buses inside the bus terminus during the pollution season to tackle the congestion. During the inspection, a senior municipal official said, eight buses were found parked improperly on the road which obstructed smooth traffic flow.

“Parking for 150 buses would commence soon which would alleviate congestion on the PWD main road. The construction work on the road behind the AQI station would be completed expeditiously by deploying additional workforce. We have also added employees for cleaning the roads with jetting machines to prevent dust from flying on the roads,” the official said, adding that several departments are working in coordination to resolve issues at Anand Vihar.

A government official said that parking of buses on roads near the Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) remains a key problem in the area for which the review of existing permitted time is also being done. “Under the existing system, the bus operators are allowed to keep the buses inside the terminal for 25 minutes after which the fee increases steeply. In an attempt to avoid the additional charges, the private bus operators are taking the buses out and parking them outside illegally which leads to traffic jams,” the official said.

The authorities are soon likely to relax the 25-minute limit during the pollution season. “The existing arrangement can be brought back after the winter pollution months,” the official added. Anand Vihar is also among the 13 pollution hotspots identified jointly by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2018, based on the annual PM 2.5 concentration of these locations being higher than Delhi’s mean PM 2.5.

The other hotspots included Mundka, Wazirpur, Jahangirpuri, RK Puram, Rohini, Punjabi Bagh, Okhla, Bawana, Vivek Vihar, Narela, Ashok Vihar and Dwarka.