Hyderabad to have Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad will have a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) in place soon.
The new entity will be headed by the state Chief Secretary and will be responsible for effective implementation and co-ordination of various traffic and transportation measures in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region (HMR).
The onus will be on the UMTA to devise better plans and mitigate the traffic woes of the metropolis, which has been witnessing chaos on the roads with the spurt in number of private vehicles and also population.
Mumbai, Jaipur and Chennai are the other major cities that have similar bodies in operation while Bengaluru has a land transport authority in place. Andhra Pradesh is the only state in the country where the UMTA is being constituted as per a legislation enacted by the state legislature. The National Urban Transport Policy-2006 stipulated setting up of a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority in cities having a population over a million to help ease urban transportation problems.
All modes of public transport including buses, multi-modal transport system (MMTS) and the proposed Metro Rail project would be integrated into a single system under the UMTA, according to highly-placed sources in the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department (MAUD). The UMTA will also approve traffic and transporation proposals and new initiatives of different departments and its recommendations will be binding on all other departments concerned, the sources added.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner, managing director of APSRTC, general manager of South Central Railway, police commissioners of Hyderabad and Cyberabad, transport commissioner, member-secretary of AP Pollution Control Board, principal secretary\secretary of MAUD, Transport, Roads and Buildings department and two experts in the field of urban transportation will be the members of the UMTA.
"The UMTA will promote and monitor key traffic and transportation projects and recommend effective transportation strategies for the HMR. The emphasis will be on improving the public transport system and ease congestion on roads," a senior MAUD official said.
It would also work towards integration of various routes of public transport and look into issues of combined ticketing and operation of feeder services.
A fraction (0.25 per cent) of the estimated cost of all traffic and transportation projects undertaken by different departments and also 0.25 per cent of development charges collected by Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, besides other local bodies in the HMR, will be pooled into an escrow account and utilised for research, studies and training in traffic and transportation, according to official sources.