Travel in Bharatpur and traffic in Delhi
Rajasthan has good roads in most of its districts despite being a backward state. One of the reasons mentioned for this is that it is a state visited by foreign tourists ( The tacit assumption is Indian tourists can do with bad / less than satisfactory facilities ! ). I feel the presence of largest contingents of armoured corps of army in this state is the reason for good roads for quick movement and deployment of military equipment.
The roads emanating from Jaipur to other parts of the state are very good and so are those from Udaypur. I am told by one and all that roads in Jodhpur division are excellent.
But I found there are exceptions which are extremes. I traveled around Bharatpur district last week. The roads are indescribably horrible. Most of the roads interconnecting taluk headquarters are in poor shape. Many of them are single track roads with pot holes all over. The metalled portion is few inches above the shoulder of the road and more often than not, one is forced to drive at an angle with the right wheels on the metalled portion jumping in and out of potholes and left wheels bumping over the non-metalled shoulder of the road. If one manages to get into third gear on such roads, one would feel ecstatic like Michael Schumacher blazing the race track in his Formula racing car.
There are some motorised vehicles indigenous to Rajasthan. One such vehicle runs shuttle service carrying public in this district. The engine is the tractor tiller ( so it makes the thud thud thud noise of tractor and also moves slowly) with a fixed frame and four car tyres. It looks like a mini open truck with no canopy what so ever. This vehicle is aptly known by the Hindi word "jugard" and topples over in no time due to it high centre of gravity injuring passengers. I saw a large of these vehicles ferrying public while I criss crossed various towns and hamlets of Bharatpur district. The passengers occupy every conceivable part of these vehicles some hanging out from the footsteps at the back and some of them occupying the engine platform as well. The fully loaded jugard with passengers negotiating the narrow uneven roads with potholes reminded me of the famous "Fevicol" advertisement of a crowded tempo swaying and bouncing over an uneven mud track. Jugard sways from side to side and front to back when it moves even on plain ground - jugard is a loose limbed floating joints contraption !
Rajasthan government transport buses all over the state are covered with dust and muck. I suspect that there are strict rules which would attract severe punishment if the vehicles are cleaned. All the buses look uniformly dirty and I am sure foreign tourists visiting Rajasthan would assume that the state transport buses are abandoned vehicles until the drivers switch on the engines ! Such vehicles give company to jugards in ferrying the public in Bharatpur district.There are some jeeps involved in this sector as well.
Bharatpur town used to be famous for its bird sanctuary in its suburb. No longer- the lake where the migratory birds spent the winter after flying all the way from Siberia has dried up thanks to rampant urbanisation. The lake is unlikely to revive. As a result the tourist industry has died down.
Bharatpur town has the deepest crators on its roads. To call them pot holes would be a misnomer as they are very deep and in a number of instances broader than vehicles plying on them. One is hard to put find a motorable stretch even in the widest roads in the town. The under body of cars, jeeps and vans is bound to touch the edge of these craters. I have been told that the roads in Bharatpur town have been in this conditions for years now though the government record shows sizable expenditure of road laying and maintenance.
Delhi has a lot diversions in traffic to due to construction of flyovers and elevated rail are over the city. This causes a lot of traffic jams. Those who are unfamiliar would find confusing diversion boards all over the place I would call Delhi a "divercity" ! I happened to enter the city recently from an end which I have not visited in the last couple of years and had a tough time negotiating the piled up traffic caused by diversions which were confusing. These diversions do not have traffic signals and this causes traffic grid locks causing long delays. The increase in number of vehicles on the road in the last decade has made the situation worse.
The roads emanating from Jaipur to other parts of the state are very good and so are those from Udaypur. I am told by one and all that roads in Jodhpur division are excellent.
But I found there are exceptions which are extremes. I traveled around Bharatpur district last week. The roads are indescribably horrible. Most of the roads interconnecting taluk headquarters are in poor shape. Many of them are single track roads with pot holes all over. The metalled portion is few inches above the shoulder of the road and more often than not, one is forced to drive at an angle with the right wheels on the metalled portion jumping in and out of potholes and left wheels bumping over the non-metalled shoulder of the road. If one manages to get into third gear on such roads, one would feel ecstatic like Michael Schumacher blazing the race track in his Formula racing car.
There are some motorised vehicles indigenous to Rajasthan. One such vehicle runs shuttle service carrying public in this district. The engine is the tractor tiller ( so it makes the thud thud thud noise of tractor and also moves slowly) with a fixed frame and four car tyres. It looks like a mini open truck with no canopy what so ever. This vehicle is aptly known by the Hindi word "jugard" and topples over in no time due to it high centre of gravity injuring passengers. I saw a large of these vehicles ferrying public while I criss crossed various towns and hamlets of Bharatpur district. The passengers occupy every conceivable part of these vehicles some hanging out from the footsteps at the back and some of them occupying the engine platform as well. The fully loaded jugard with passengers negotiating the narrow uneven roads with potholes reminded me of the famous "Fevicol" advertisement of a crowded tempo swaying and bouncing over an uneven mud track. Jugard sways from side to side and front to back when it moves even on plain ground - jugard is a loose limbed floating joints contraption !
Rajasthan government transport buses all over the state are covered with dust and muck. I suspect that there are strict rules which would attract severe punishment if the vehicles are cleaned. All the buses look uniformly dirty and I am sure foreign tourists visiting Rajasthan would assume that the state transport buses are abandoned vehicles until the drivers switch on the engines ! Such vehicles give company to jugards in ferrying the public in Bharatpur district.There are some jeeps involved in this sector as well.
Bharatpur town used to be famous for its bird sanctuary in its suburb. No longer- the lake where the migratory birds spent the winter after flying all the way from Siberia has dried up thanks to rampant urbanisation. The lake is unlikely to revive. As a result the tourist industry has died down.
Bharatpur town has the deepest crators on its roads. To call them pot holes would be a misnomer as they are very deep and in a number of instances broader than vehicles plying on them. One is hard to put find a motorable stretch even in the widest roads in the town. The under body of cars, jeeps and vans is bound to touch the edge of these craters. I have been told that the roads in Bharatpur town have been in this conditions for years now though the government record shows sizable expenditure of road laying and maintenance.
Delhi has a lot diversions in traffic to due to construction of flyovers and elevated rail are over the city. This causes a lot of traffic jams. Those who are unfamiliar would find confusing diversion boards all over the place I would call Delhi a "divercity" ! I happened to enter the city recently from an end which I have not visited in the last couple of years and had a tough time negotiating the piled up traffic caused by diversions which were confusing. These diversions do not have traffic signals and this causes traffic grid locks causing long delays. The increase in number of vehicles on the road in the last decade has made the situation worse.
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