State just wants status quo on traffic scheme: green group

The written submissions have been filed based on a PIL filed by BEAG and the Smoke Affected Residents’ Forum seeking the implementation of the Traffic Restraint System (TRS) in Mumbai. It stated that after having made a clear commitment in its affidavit of 2001,the state government has gone back on its decision to implement TRS as a pilot project.

The petitioner has pointed out that pollution levels in the city,particularly of suspended particulate matter,remain much higher than the norms stipulated by the Central Pollution Control Board. Over 90 percent of the population of this city do not have access to private transport vehicles while 85 percent of 16,31,837 vehicles registered in the city in 2008 are private transport vehicles,the submission says.

“In other words,under 10 percent of the population of the city is utilising a completely disproportionate amount of road space to the prejudice of the general commuting public,which utilises public transport,” the submissions states,seeking “some form of restraint on the growth and use of private vehicles”.

The court last year observed that the government is not ready to experiment with the TRS and was instead depending on hordes of infrastructure projects and enhancement of public transport system.

“By developing infrastructure you are not going to solve this mess,” the court had then observed.

The court has adjourned the hearing till February 24.