UP CM Yogi Adityanath Announces 600 Km long Six-Lane Ganga Expressway

After a cabinet meeting at the premises of Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj on 2019-01-29, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced plans to construct a 600 kms long expressway to connect the western part of the state with the east.

The six-lane Ganga Expressway will cost Rs 36,000 crores. The expressway connecting Prayagraj to Meerut will significantly reduce the time to travel between the two. Currently, it takes around 12 hours in duration to commute between the two cities.

The Ganga Expressway will pass through Meerut, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Kannauj, Unnao, Raebareli, Pratapgarh and arrive at Prayagraj. This will be the world’s longest expressway. It will take 6,556 hectares of land.

Currently, the longest expressway in India is the 302 kms long highway connecting Agra and Lucknow. 

Another 700 kms long expressway, which once ready in 2020, will connect Mumbai and Nagpur.

Beating retreat at Atari border - Part 2

Beating retreat at Atari border - Part 1

Solo drive to Chopta Tungnath in Uttarakhand by Sukla Chaki in January 2019

IndianRoadie Sukla Chaki from Baroda is mostly a solo lady traveller.
In early January 2019, she braved the biting cold and heavy snowfall during her drive to Chopta Tungnath, Uttarakhand.
She preferred to wish all of us in IndianRoadie a very happy 2019 and take us along for a belated virtual snowdrive with her

Fog or smog that drastically reduced visibility in Amritsar in end December 2018

That's Amritsar (Punjab) at 10.30am on Thursday, 2018-12-27.
IndianRoadie veteran Malvinder Pal Singh was on the Verka Majithia Bypass when fog/ smog reduced visibility to 5 mtrs or even less.
The scary video was clicked and shared for the benefit of all roadies pan-India.

How's fog/ smog disrupting life in your town/ city or on any road/ highway that you were in since December 2018?

Please post videos/ photos with date + time + precise location to gauge the gravity of the situation ...... in new threads or in the comments section below.
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Please remain #HighOnCognition.
#IndianRoadieSafetyTips.

Experience with Zoomcar by Pradeep Marwaha in January 2019

Experience with Zoomcar (self-drive car company) in India, as narrated by Pradeep Marwaha on Facebook on Thursday, 2019-01-17.

We rented a Zoomcar (Tata Tiago) under booking ID JPS6FU7HR on 12 January 2019 and returned it before the due time of 3 am on 16 January 2019.

It had a diesel leak which was spraying diesel into the bonnet over the battery etc creating a life endangering situation for us including 3 senior citizens and two youths, almost all through our trip for 4 days.

We were concerned about the excess diesel being consumed since we got diesel filled for 1360 + 1330 + 1330 + 1360 + 500 and only while filling the diesel on our last leg at Sarjapur Road did we realize that diesel was leaking dangerously. We reported this to Zoomcar from whom we had rented the car and on their advise slowly drove home in Kaverrapa layout. We obviously asked for a refund of the amounts we had paid for the rented car since they had given us a unfit car.

The payment acknowledged in their mail is : Cost Breakup

Booking fee ₹ 7881
Discount ₹ 1350
First 930.0 Kms
₹ 8 will be charged for each excess km
FREE
Total Cost ₹ 6531
Refundable Deposit
Refund after the completion of the booking
₹ 3000
Paid ₹ 9531
₹ 9531. 

Strangely Zoom Cars sent us intimations stating that we should pay them additional 10,000 towards a damage to the car. Very ironically this was before we reported the problem in mail and before any of the people from Zoom Cars had even inspected the car. After discussing over the phone with their helpline, we were told that their team would investigate and process our refund on 17th January 2019.
Imagine our surprise when we got an intimation from them that the total bill was for 21,947.

Kindly initiate suitable action against them and ensure that they pay back charges taken from us for an unfit car which could have caused death of all 5 of our family members; and also refund Rs. 3,000 taken as a deposit from us; and pay us a suitable amount for cheating us with a faulty vehicle and for harassing us an amount of Rs. 2 lakhs at least. Any other detail needed to close this case will be provided by us as best as we can. Thank you for your support.

This is the complaint we wrote to Zoom Cars which they acknowledged as  [CASE:1128128] (Query Related to Billing and Charges -> Damage Charges related)  :: We had rented a zoom car on 12Jan. During our trip we have found that we have been issued an internally unfit car by zoom. The car has some internal issue due to which all the diesel (including which we have refueled) has leaked out and is currently constantly leaking from below the bonnet. We have already contacted Zoomcar helpline and have received 2 calls, one from them and one from Tata Motors breakdown team. They have instructed us to leave the car and that they will be sending a towaway team to the car. We have followed their instruction and parked the car and locked it before 3am today in Marathahalli, Bangalore. The diesel which we had refueled is still leaking drop by drop. Since we have been handed over an unfit vehicle which had internal issues (not possible to be detected by us while it was being issued to us) which spoiled our trip, put our families lives in danger and caused all the fuel to leak, I request you to pay for our damages and cancel the ride and take the car back.'

Thanking  you in anticipation,

Pradeep Marwaha
Kaverappa Layout,
Panathur Road, Bangalore

Supreme Court of India ruling in January 2019 banning car modifications - lots of clarifications needed

After the January 2019 ruling by Supreme Court of India, even fitment of over sized or under sized tyres in our cars will be deemed to be illegal.
Will after market fitment of alloy wheels or even seat covers, steering wheel covers, mud flaps be considered illegal?

Will retrofitting a Maruti Gypsy with a Swift DDIS diesel engine or gear box be considered illegal, too. Earlier the change of fuel type was allowed with necessary and applicable endorsement in the car documents.

Will retrofitment of power steering be considered illegal? Will it be worth all the efforts and money.

Will RTO/ Public Vehicles Departments pan-India refuse to make necessary endorsements in our car smart card/ blue book even if a law-abiding roadie visits them. A 'sarkari babu' will never ever take the initiative to announce what's legal and what's illegal in the eyes of our laws.

The following is the actual judgement of the Supreme Court
https://www.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2013/6343/6343_2013_Judgement_09-Jan-2019.pdf

Is there any other website/ .pdf file where the finer details have been listed out.

Hyderabad to Belgaum - Indian Roadie Preferred Route

Hyderabad - Zaheerabad - Kalaburgi (Gulbarga) - Vijayapura - Bagalkot - Belgavi (Belgaum).

Jaipur - Joshimath - Auli and back .... Indian Roadie Preferred Route + Itinerary

We did Jaipur to Auli last week 2018. We took the route Jaipur-Delhi-Khatuli-Bijnor-Lansdowne-Srinagar-Rudraprayag-Pipakkoti and than Joshimath. (We skipped Haridwar-Rishikesh-Devprayag to avoid traffic) Lansdowne route is quite scenic and good as compared to Rishikesh one.

Day 1- Jaipur to Lansdowne
Day 2 - Lansdowne to Pipalkoti
Day 3- Visit Joshimath and Auli 
Day 4-5 return (night halt in Lansdowne).

You can also skip prior booking to any hotel as you will get GMVNL TRH in most of the places. Night drive is also not suggested in hilly area.

Not possible to cover Jaipur-Auli in one day. Rishikesh to Joshimath is around 8-9 hours. Best is to start early morning from Jaipur and stay overnight at Rishikesh. If plan early, you can witness Ganga aarti at triveni ghaat Rishikesh. Next morning you can travel to Joshimath. Since you are planning to go Auli and it is only reachable by cable car from Joshimath. Keep in mind that last trolley for Auli is around 4 or 5 p.m. confirm  from gmvn before you go.

Make sure the hill drive is done by day. Lot of landslides between Karnprayag and Joshimath. At many places you have to wait till JCB clears the rocks on road. So timing of Google maps is useless here. Long line of cars keeps waiting then one side is allowed to cross. So start early on second day after night halt. You can take Lansdowne route if you like scenic hill drives. Main route with traffic is via Rishikesh. Or Kotdwara Najibabad.

It is a lovely drive along Ganga:
http://traveltwosome.com/valley-of-flowers/

Chandigarh - Chail - Shimla solo ride while it snowed on 2019-0-06

IndianRoadie, Rakshit Makkar rode Chandigarh - Chail - Shimla and back (approx 200 kms) on this Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle, even while it snowed heavily on Sunday, 2019-01-06.

He expressed surprise because the Himalayan felt good in the beginning.
It was good till 100 km/hr and then it entered the “RE GENES” mode because it started vibrating.
Engine head of this particular Himalayan has already been changed 4 times and it’s only 30k on the odo.
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#solotravel #themilemuncher #Shimla #RoyalEnfield #Himalayan  #HimachalPradesh #snowfall

Glimpses of the terrain in Aizwal, Mizoram

Mizoram has a terrain like nowhere else in India, beautiful yet dangerous. All of Aizawl, houses, shops, roads, seemed to be delicately hanging on steep slopes. On the last turn, cab veered on a slope at an angle of approximately 75 degrees. It was no joke. The driver stopped mid way, pointed to a house and asked me to get down. .

If I step out of the cab, it is a given that I would tumble down and die!

Politely, when I explained this to the driver, he smiled and drove to a place which was safe enough for me to stand without losing balance. .

Being one of the leading producers of bamboo in India, the houses in Aizawl are built mainly using bamboo, wood and glass. The entire structure, sometimes more than two floors, is balanced skillfully on just bamboo logs. I stayed for 4 days in one such house. Believe me, the fear of a landslide or simply one strong wind breaking one leg of the house was just inescapable.

Photo Credit: Hriatpuia Rokhum
Narration: Divya Soundarajan
Source: @discover.northeast

#Mizoram #NorthEastIndia
#IndianRoadie
#BackpackingIndiaOnRoad
#ShetravelsIndia
#GlobalRoadie

Toilet solution by Krissy and Mitch during their vanlife

Krissy: "Babe, we need to take more candid pics".
Mitch: (5 min later) *click*.

Krissy and Mitch gets a lot a questions about bathroom situation in the van during the course of their frequent vanlife. That's what made Krissy to share this very practical but ridiculous photo.
They have a small portable Thetford toilet that uses a special solution to keep things smelling pretty. The toilet has saved them on more than one occasion.
However, they roll by on the highway to take quick potty breaks.
They use the toilet inside the van for only going number one (for obvious reasons) and they stop at gas stations for any other business. The toilet gets emptied once a week and it's easy to take care of at any waste station or rest stop.
When building the van, they contemplated whether or not they needed it as it takes up valuable storage space. Now they are glad that they incorporated it into the van design.

Content courtesy: @threeweekstowander

# vanlife
# vanlife stories worldwide

Pune - Rajasthan - Pune - Indian Roadie Preferred Itinerary in December 2018

Pune - Mumbai - Godhra - Udaipur - Jodhpur - Jaisalmer - Sam - Longewala -Tannot - Pushkar - Ajmer - Jaipur - Pune drive by Sagar Shivling Hingmire in December 2018.

Jaipur - Pune return route:

Day-1
Jaipur - Beawar - Nathdwara - Udaipur-Modasa - Godhra.

Day-2
Godhra - Halol - Statue of Unity (Rajpipla) - Ankleshwar - Mumbai.

Day-3
Mumbai - Pune. 

Hyderabad to Nanded - Indian Roadie Preferred Route/ Motoring Route

Indian Roadie Preferred Route/ Motoring Route/ route for 

Hyderabad to Nanded (Hyderabad_Nanded) (as in January 2019): 

Option 1: 
Hyderabad - Nizamabad - Bodhan - Narsi - Nanded 

Option 2: 
Hyderabad - Sangareddy - Alladurg - Nanded (route was in bad shape in January 2019). 

Aadhar - Driving Licence linking to become mandatory in India

Govt of India will soon make Aadhaar - Driving Licence linking mandatory, said Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union Law Minister.

This is to ensure that those involved in road accidents are barred from getting duplicate licenses and are not let go scot-free.

Delivering his presidential address at the ongoing 106th Indian Science Congress at Lovely Professional University on 2019-01-06, the minister for Law, Electronics and Information Technology said, "We are soon going to bring a law which will make it mandatory to link Aadhaar with driving licence."

"At presently, what happens is that the guilty person who causes an accident flees the scene and gets a duplicate licence. This helps him go scot-free. However, with the Aadhaar linkage you can change your name but you cannot change your biometrics, neither iris nor fingerprints. So the moment you go in for a duplicate licence, the system will say this person already has a driving licence and should not be given a new one," said Prasad, explaining the need for the linkage.

Source: NewsTime18.

Passenger vehicle ferry services over Sharavathi River, Karnataka

Ferrying bikes, cars, trucks and buses across Sharavathi River.  The ferry service connects Sagara (Shimoga dist) with Sigandoor & Kollur-Mookambika all in Karnataka.

Sigandoor has a famous temple. 

There is another ferry service from Hasirumaggi which is closer to Kollur from Sagara.  than taking the Sigandoor ferry.

Drive/ ride itinerary for Sikkim (as suggested by Rakshit Makkar)

The following is a drive/ ride itinerary to Sikkim, as suggested by Rakshit Makkar. Rakshit, an IT professional is a resident of Chandigarh. He rode on his bike to Sikkim in 2018.

Day 1 – Siliguri to Lachung via Mangan (185 kms).

Start early. You will need to procure a permit to visit North Sikkim. The permit can be made at the district magistrate’s office at Mangan by submitting copies of all your documents and documents of motorcycle. You will be asked to mention the places of your visit. Write Lachung, Yumthnag, Zero Point, Lachen, Gurudongmar Lake.
The process takes around one hour (more if crowded).
Try to reach Mangan by 11am or 12 noon. Take the route via Singtham and Dikchu to reach Mangan.
Mangan also has the last petrol pump in entire north Sikkim so make sure you fill up at Mangan. The pump will be on your left about 1 km before the town. Do remember to make 8-10 copies of the permits as you will be required to submit one copy of the permit at each check post on the way. After getting the permit proceed to Lachung via Chungthang.

Day 2 – Lachung to Yumthang valley (26 kms).
Yumthang to Zero Point (25 kms).
Ziro to Lachung (51 kms).
Lachung to Lachen (47 kms).

Start early. Enjoy the Yumthang valley, the road will end at Zero Point, come back to Lachung, check out of your hotel, have lunch, continue to Lachen via Chungthang.  If you are able to reach Lachen by 2pm, then you might want to attempt to continue till Thangu. Do this only and only if you reach Lachen by 2pm because the road from Lachen to Thangu is bad and dangerous after sunset. The sun sets by 4:30-5pm in Sikkim/ East India.
Lachen is the preferred stop for visiting Gurudongmar but you will be forced to start at 5am if you stay for the night at Lachen. If you can continue till Thangu on previous evening, then you can start for Gurudongmar at 7am the next day. Lachen has lots of hotels to stay, Thangu only has a few homestays. I personally liked staying at Thangu vis-a-vis Lachen.

Day 3 – Lachen/Thangu to Gurudongmar (66 kms) to Gangtok.

Start at 5am from Lachen or 7am from Thangu. The army allows tourists only before 9 or 10 AM to visit Gurudongmar that is why you need to start early.
Do not drink alcohol or smoke the previous night. You will climb from 9000 feet to 17000 feet in a matter of hours and most human bodies suffer from AMS. Legally no one is allowed to go beyond Gurudongmar but nowadays lots of bikers continue to TsoLamhu, the highest lake in India. If you want to take the risk then continue straight on the Gurudongmar road. There will be a board showing Gurudongmar on the right. From that place if you go straight for 6 kms more you reach TsoLamhu. But army may stop you if they find you. After enjoying Gurudongmar start your ride downhill and reach Gangtok (175 kms) the clean capital of Sikkim by 7pm.
Check-in at a hotel near the MG Marg. Go to Café Live and Loud to celebrate your Gurudongmar visit with excellent cocktails and a live band performance. The Baker’s Café is a good bakery to visit.
Stay put in hotel for 2 nights in Gangtok

You will again need permits to visit East Sikkim. The permit can be made in Gangtok but it is a time consuming process so I would suggest that you get in touch with an agent in Gangtok when you reach, give him all your documents, they will charge around 100-200 for the permit and get it done the next day. Be sure to add all the places, viz. Changu Lake, Nathu La, Kupup, Dzuluk, Gnathang valley. Make sure you give the documents at night because the agents go the tourism office early in the morning.

Day 4 – Rest day! Your body would have taken a toll due to the excessive riding of the last 5 days so use this day to rest. Chill in Gangtok. Maybe visit the nearby Rumtek Monastery, visit the ropeway and other commercial spots near Gangtok if you are interested. Collect permit for East Sikkim from agent in the evening.

Day 5 – Gangtok to Dzuluk via Changu lake, Nathu La, Baba Mandir, Kupup lake.

Start early as vehicles are allowed before 9am to start for Nathu La. First you will visit Changu Lake, take a Yak ride if you feel like, continue to Nathu La, see the Chinese border, come down, continue to Baba Mandir, continue to Kupup Lake, you can either stay for the night at Gnathang valley or Dzuluk.
From Gnathang valley to Dzuluk you will ride on the famous hairpin bend roads also known as the old silk route. The sunrise over the Thambi view point is amazing with the Kanchenjunga on one side. Must visit on a clear morning.

Day 6 – Dzuluk/Gnathnag to Gangtok.

Raipur (CG) to Agra (UP) - Indian Roadie Preferred Route

Raipur (5am on 2/1/2019) - Bhilai - Durg - Bhandara - Mauda - Nagpur Outer Ring Road - Mansar - Pench - Seoni - Sagar (12-30pm on 2/1/2019) - Jhansi (4-30pm on 2/1/2019) - Gwalior - Agra (8-30pm on 2/1/2019).

Open air yoga at Periyar National Park, Kerala

Yoga time at Periyar National Park, Kerala.
Has anybody on Indian Roadie or its associated online groups (viz. Backpacking India On Road, Global Roadie, Shetravels India) carry out yoga practice under the open sky in God's Own Country?

Delhi to Mumbai to Delhi - road trip in Dec 2018/ Jan 2019

Delhi-Agra-Jaipir-Beawar-Sirohi-Palanpur-Ahmedabad-Vadodra-Surat-Mumbai.

Total Kms driven: 1719 kms.
Car: Maruti S-Cross.

Route Update:

Day 1: Delhi-Agra: Took YEW to NH-19, towards tansport nagar. Speed limit on the YEW has been revised to 75 kmph for couple of months due to the fog. On Nh-19 crossing Yamuna is still a pain as one flyover is yet to complete construction. Total travel time - 3 hours.

Day 2: Agra-Jaipur: Took NH-21, the road is just superb. 4 lane throughout. So much better than Delhi-Jaipur. Encountered very thick fog, started at 5:45am, reached Jaipur at 10:30am. Crossed Jaipur and had breakfast at Hotel Highway King on Ajmer-Jaipur Higahway.

Day 3: Jaipur-Beawar-Sirohi-Palanpur-Ahmedabad: Tried the Palanpur route for the first time. Our planned halt was at Udaipur. Drove from Agra to Ahmedabad with 2 breaks. The other break was at Midway Namaste before Sirohi. The roads are excellent till you enter Gujarat. The roads ahead are good but too much local traffic. Too many trucks on this route. We made good progress till Palanpur, post that, it was a pain till Ahmedabad. Will not take this route unless i have to visit Ahmedabad. Total time taken - 16 hours for 930 kms.

Day 4: Ahmedabad-Vadodra-Surat-Mumbai: Took NE-1 to Vadodra. Gujurat drivers are the worst drivers I came across in this drive. The shoulder lane is the overtaking lane for them!! So many cars overtaking from shoulder lane. The drive was very smooth till Vasai bridge. Stopped at Food hub in Manor for lunch. From Vadai bridge to Dahisar took 1 hour 30 mins! Pathetic traffic. Time taken 8 hours.

Avg money spent on toll: 1-1.25/- per km. 

Return drive from Mumbai to Delhi starting on Saturday, 2019-01-05 via Godhra - Shamlaji -Udaipur.  

(Road trip in a Maruti S-Cross in December 2018/ January 2019 described by Rishi Sinha)

Bangalore - Tirupati - Vizag - Vijaywada - Chilkur - Kurnool road trip in December 2018

It was December 2018.
A roadie, his 8 year old kid and a close friend drove about 2400 kms in 3 days in his Renault Duster.

Day1: Bengaluru - Vizag.

Route: Bangalore - Kolar - Tirupati - Nellore - Vijayawada - Vizag.

Road status: Bangalore - Palamaner was excellent, Palamaner - Tirupati was under construction, Tirupati - Naidupeta was ok, Naidupeta - Vizag was good road with some bumpy patches but with heavy truck traffic.

Day2: Vizag - Chilkur.

Route: Vizag - Vijayawada - Hyderabad - Chilkur.

Road status: Vizag - Vijayawada heavy traffic, Vijayawada - Hyderabad smooth road with minimal traffic.

Day3: Chilkur - Kurnool - Bangalore.

Route: Chilkur - Bangalore.

Roads: Smooth road with minimal traffic.