Work on India’s first pod taxi network to start by March 2017: PWD minister

Work on the country’s first pod taxi network will start in March 2017, by which time the proposed Gurgaon Development Authority (GDA) will be fully operational, public works department (PWD) Minister Rao Narbir Singh said on Monday.

Speaking at a press meet at the municipal corporation office in Sector 34 on Monday, Singh said approximately Rs 1,680 crore was being spent on development works in Gurgaon alone.

The 12.3-km pod taxi network was planned from New Delhi-Haryana border to Subash Chowk. Later, the route was expanded by an additional 6km to include old Gurgaon areas as well. But the work got held up due to safety concerns in the Old Gurgaon area. The project has now been referred to the Niti Aayog.

Narbir Singh said the project’s construction will commence by March, while reasserting that Old Gurgaon will be covered by the project.

On the issue of setting up the Gurgaon Developmental Authority, a body which was recently objected to by Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) workers, the minister said the GDA will be run by ”a senior bureaucrat” from November 1 (the day of its launch) and, in four months, all modalities and transfers of officials will fall be made to ensure its proper functioning.

The proposal for the GDA had recently also drawn fire from senior bureaucrats who are of the opinion that ”too much executive powers was vested with a single body”.

The minister also said of the Rs 1,680 crore development projects to be undertaken in Gurgaon, Rs 958 crore will be spent on construction of underpasses on NH-8 at Rajiv Chowk, Signature Tower and Iffco Chowk.

Narbir Singh also spoke about shifting Civil Hospital in Civil Lines to a new location and urged the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon to find an alternative site for the purpose.

“If you look at the government hospitals in Chandigarh, they have been built in a planned manner and have enough space for entry of patients, ambulances and vehicles. They are clutter-free. The same does not hold true for Civil Hospital, which is encroached upon by street vendors, is poorly designed and unable to take the patient load,” Narbir Singh said.

The minister also touched upon the issue of foot overbridges (FOBs), the construction of which has been stuck in the Punjab and Haryana High Court owing to litigations over the tendering process.

Narbir Singh said existing FOBs serve “commercial” interests and do not fulfil the purpose of providing public convenience.

“The FOBs in Sector 17, Hero Honda Chowk, Narsinghpur and near the MG road exit on NH-8 are located nearly 100 metres from the desired location. They are merely built as establishments for displaying advertisements,” the PWD Minister said.