facilities, the people in posh colonies are forced to commute on men-pulled rickshaws. Roads are potholed, congested and encroached upon and the traffic regulatory mechanism ineffective. The result: long jams, particularly during peak hours.

For the past two years, authorities have been talking about introducing air-conditioned buses for local transport and high-capacity, lowfloor CNG buses to connect the city with Delhi. The Haryana and Delhi governments have also got a number of feasibility studies conducted by RITES and private research companies but on the ground the situation remains the same.

Till now a favoured destination for the entrepreneurs from India and abroad, Gurgaon is spread over in 100 sq km and is destined to accommodate the population of 10 lakh by 2011 and 19 lakh by 2021, according to a RITES study. Its current population of seven lakh people is dependent on man-pulled rickshaws, unregulated diesel-run shared threewheelers and a handful of RTV buses. The taxi business is in the hands of unauthorised operators who charge commuters exorbitantly.

"The other day I went to my friend's place at South City. When I called up a travel agency, I was shocked to find that the charge for a distance of just seven kilometers was Rs 300," says Sangita Kumar, who lives at DLF Phase III. She finally hired a manpulled rickshaw for Rs 75.

Surprisingly, neither the developers who boast being the biggest in the country, nor those who have developed townships running in thousands of acres have bothered to start something on their own to provide the residents in their areas a mode of local transport.

Shalini Wadhawa, spokesperson for DLF Universals Limited, says in early nineties DLF had started a 30seater bus service for its residents and about 15 buses to ferry the residents from various locations in DLF to IIT, AIIMS and Connaught Place. "But since the Haryana government asked us to pull out of it as it was going to start its own service, we removed those buses," she claims. It was only last year that the Haryana Roadways started a minibus service. "However, the profile of the people who use this service does not match with the profile of the DLF residents. Therefore the latter do not use it," Wadhwa added.

In its defence, the Haryana Roadways claims that the Transport Department has finalised tenders for 15 air-conditioned buses for local transport. "These 15 buses of 42 seats each will be reaching Gurgaon in next three-four months. Each bus cost us Rs 50 lakh," said J.S. Arya, general manager, Haryana Roadways.

Last year, two renowned taxi operators had approached the Haryana government for starting a radio and metered taxi service in Gurgaon, but withdrew after HUDA refused to give them space for parking bays. "They wanted space for free which is not possible,” said HUDA administrator S.P. Gupta.

Given this state of apathy, there does not seem to any immediate relief in sight for the residents of Gurgaon from traffic jams. Be it NH-8, where Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway is coming up, and its arterial roads leading to DLF City and Udyog Vihar, or the MG Road, the main road leading to Sector 55/56, South City crossing and IFFCO roundabout (all in New Gurgaon) or to Mahavir Chowk, Maharaja Aggrasen Chowk, Sohna Chowk and Pataudi Chowk (in Old city), the traffic is only getting worse.

According to a report prepared by the RITES along with the DMRC and HUDA, currently 11 lakh vehicles make trips in Gurgaon and of this three lakh are intra-city and 8 lakh are inter-city.

Burgeoning city ¦ Population expected to touch 10 lakh by 2011. (Present: 7 lakh) ¦ Daily 11 lakh vehicles make trips in Gurgaon — 3 lakh are intra-city and 8 lakh, inter-city. Traffic woes ¦ No effective transport network. ¦ Taxis charge exorbitantly. Plans on Paper ¦ Tenders finalised for 15 AC buses. ¦ Haryana Roadways to purchase 50 lowfloor, highcapacity CNG buses for better connectivity with Delhi. ¦ Integrated Multi-Modal Public Transport Network by the GNCTD. ¦ GNCTD willing to provide more links: Light Rail Transport System, Monorail or (HCBS) and Metro Rail.