India Day 1: 28 February 2015

New Delhi

Government building in New Delhi, date from the British Raj when New Delhi was created as the national capital. There are also many blocks of old apartments for public servants, that we would call "medium density".

The new suburbs are on the periphery, and include many high rise shells.  There appears to be skill shortages in fitout, plumbing, electricals etc.








This is a large Sikh temple in New Delhi. (Punjab is the birthplace of Sikhism).

Transport and Utilities: India: a postscript

The maximum use is made of all transport modes. Trains, busses, trucks, tuk tuks are always loaded to the max!

Inefficiencies in the transport system are clearly not related to use of available load capacity. Candidates for improvement would include the many trucks sitting on verges awaiting loading/unloading, and their high loads must inflicts significant damage to roads, and cause delays for other users.

In many towns we saw overpasses being built to ease congestion. Progress was always at a slow pace but no doubt the low tech approach created local employment. We also saw examples of the work disrupting drainage leading to local flooding.

The invitation to honk is always taken.

Carrying 'kids'! Baby Goats not old enough to walk get a ride on camels during the annual migration.

 

Rural transport!

 

We saw little evidence of major accidents, but we did see the results of a number of significant mechanical failures.

This Tata truck was carrying a load of bricks, and the front suspension collapsed. Many police and on lookers stood by while an old man unloaded bricks by hand onto a tractor drawn trailer. One lane closed for the day!

 

In this case the truck load of bricks had tipped over; load shift?

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are some very high voltage and high capacity major power feeds. We did experience power outages at a number of urban and rural locations. People talk of routine power outages each day. [This photo was at the southern approaches to New Delhi.]

 

Ad hoc modifications to the distribution network are often visible, and many installations would not comply with Australian Standards.