-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Wishing all Goanetters | | a Prosperous | | and | | Happy New Year - 2006 | | Goanet - http://www.goanet.org | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All networks jammed Mid Day Sanjeev Devasia January 8, 2006
Back to back cars, circling planes waiting to land, endless minutes spent connecting to the Internet. Our city doesn't give it much thought, but traffic is escalating in Mumbai to frightening lengths. Whether it is congestion on the road, air, Internet or mobile traffic, it is the citizen who bears the brunt for lack of adequate infrastructure. 520 aircraft in a day, only 35 ATCs During winter, congestion at Mumbai airport becomes worse. As most flights from north India are diverted to Mumbai, there's a scary load on the Mumbai sky. Compounding the problem is the paltry number of Air Traffic Regulators, when compared to the aircraft movement in the city. Mumbai has an average of 520 aircraft movements in a single day, while it has 35 ATCs in a shift - miniscule in comparison. A senior Air Traffic Control (o) said, "There are plans to increase number of Air Traffic Controllers by the Civil Aviation Ministry, but there is a dearth of training institutes in the country. There is only one training institute in Allahabad, which churns out 50 ATC (o) s every year." The root cause of the problem lies in the high-pressure nature of job of the ATC (o). Simple classroom training is not enough. "An ATC after passing out of the school, needs at least three to four years of hands-on experience of radar control under supervision to handle it independently." According to sources, the ministry has plans to increase the number of students passing out of the Civil Aviation Training College (CAT) at Allahabad and double the current capacity by next year. Also freshers who pass out from the CAT college cannot be directly put up at radar controls in cities like Delhi and Mumbai, where there are 25 take offs or landings in an hour - that's a landing or take off every three minutes. A radar controller has to react in a flash at the Mumbai airport. He has to guide the aircraft right from the engine taxiing, take off, altitude, its approach to the airport when landing, parking and finally until the doors of the aircraft are opened for passengers to exit. Some of the solutions thrown up by experts are: * Increased ATC (o)s, * Parallel runways * Pilots should rely more on Instrument Flight Rule (IFR), rather than depending on Visual Flight Rule, where he has to depend on high-speed taxiways to exit the runaway after landing. 18 lakh vehicles on the roads If that is the case with air, roads are worse. Frequent traffic jams and long hours of traveling are an everyday occurrence for Mumbaikars. The phenomenal number of vehicles and quality of roads have not helped matters. "The whole of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has around 18 lakh vehicles on the roads. On an average, around 300 vehicles are registered in a day," said a transport official. "Every year, the city witnesses a 10-12 per cent growth in the number of new vehicles. This, when no new permits are given for transport vehicles other than government vehicle and transport vehicles," he added. According to a traffic and planning expert closely associated with several transport projects, the authorities are aware of the problems relating to traffic. However, whenever they wake up to plan and implement a project, the requirements of the day are much more than what they had envisaged. He listed four priorities that have to be taken care of to avoid problems in future. * Reduce overcrowding of suburban railways by building a Mumbai metro or an underground rail network or corridor. * Congestion pricing to restrict traffic. This can be done by putting up toll booths in congested localities and by charging toll on the vehicles entering these localities. * Area Traffic Control Co-ordination of all traffic signals through computers and closed circuit televisions. * Clear encroachments and resettle encroachers. 1.85 million logging on to the Net Even a new technology communication tool like the Internet is not free from congestions in the network. Presently, the country has about 38.5 million Internet users in the country, according to a survey and the numbers are ever increasing. However, increasing numbers have only resulted in slowing the Internet Access. According to the Internet and Mobile Users Association (IAMAI) president Preethi Desai, the penetration of net users in the city stands at 10.5 per cent and the number of Internet users at 1.85 million. The Internet and Online Association (IOAI) also predicts that there will be around 165 million interactive net users in the 20-40 age group by 2007. According to Internet expert Vijay Mukhi, a majority of the Internet usage in India and in the city is through wires. However, wire is an obsolete technology which has not seen much of research and development. "Wired networks face a problem of congestion because of the lack of bandwidth. For facilitating speedy flow of information, huge bandwidth capacities are needed, which requires huge investments too. Besides, wired technology is not scalable beyond a point, while wireless technology is scalable," Mukhi said. World over, internet users are shifting towards air or wireless network employing technologies like CDMA and GPRS from a wired network. "Earlier in my car, I could not use my computer, but now with my cell phone I can log on to the Internet in the car itself. Despite the advantage of a wireless network, only five percent of internet users in our country are logged on to it, while world over the figure ranges around 50 percent," Mukhi said. "We expect the number of internet users using wireless network in India to rise to 30 percent. However, as a temporary solution, the number of telephone lines and bandwidth going outside the country should be increased, because a major part of the traffic is outside the country and is done through the wires." In the long term, even if there is freedom from wires and shift towards wireless technology, the number of cell phone towers and supporting infrastructure for it have to be increased," Mukhi added. While the cell phone may have become the best communication tool in recent times, networks have always gone kaput in times of crisis. The number of mobile phone users in the city has reached around 60 lakh. However, during recent disasters like the 26/7 deluge, the networks went off track. Besides even on festivals, network congestion hinders communication between people. The alternative to provide hassle free communication is to increase the number of cell towers and the supporting infrastructure, said Mukhi. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
