VK’s stalled road project now traffic trap
PWD’s road widening project in Vasant Kunj, stalled over environmental concerns and strict monitoring by National Green Tribunal (NGT), has created a traffic bottleneck that refuses to go. For over a year now the traffic going from Mahipalpur towards Chattarpur has been negotiating a long bumpy and dusty stretch. A year back the PWD was executing the first phase of the project there (about 3.5km long) but ended felling trees illegally, setting in motion a series of events.
Ever since then the area has become a dust bowl where traffic crawls. With heaps of earth in the way and trees threatening to fall over the stretch of Abdul Gaffar Khan Marg in front of Sector A DDA flats can turn your journey into a tortuous ride. The proposal was to widen the existing four-lane road to eight lanes in three phases, right up to NH-8 but PWD has ended up inconveniencing commuters.
On this busy stretch jams have become a regular trait. In a ripple effect during peak hours, the gridlock begins nearly a kilometre away from the main trouble spot right at the DDA Janta Market. During peak hours there are more than a lakh vehicles passing through the stretch as per the Traffic officials.
To reach B and C blocks of Sector A there is a U-turn for the traffic in the extreme right lane. Aggravating the problem the cars which get caught in the other arm of the fork (see pix) and can’t take the U-turn get stuck. This happens quite often since there are no road signs or indicators. Traffic cops explained that since it is used by heavy vehicles at night the condition of the road has only deteriorated. They said an average of nearly 10,000 heavy vehicles pass through the stretch daily.
“Since it is difficult to negotiate the bumps at night my car has been damaged numerous times on this road. To make vehicle movement faster the authorities can at least fill the potholes,” said Sanjay Kumar, who was driving a cab from the airport to Lado Sarai in south Delhi.
Traffic expert N Ranganathan says diversion markers are required to be installed for such diversions on a main carriageway and these should be visible quite early for the drivers to fix their routes.
“We are ourselves quite fed up with the situation,” says a PWD official. “We had requested the NGT to pass an early order in the case so that it would at least become clear whether work can take place or not. As long as judgment is passed it really does not matter which way it goes. There is nothing that we can do as right now we have been stopped from carrying out any work here.”
Delhi University professor and Vasant Kunj resident Sonya Ghosh, concerned over large scale felling of trees, had filed a case against the project in March 2013. The NGT then ordered a stay. It may take time as it has now asked for a fresh environmental assessment.
To make an assessment of the environmental damage, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, had been earlier commissioned by the NGT. It concluded that 267 trees worth Rs 74 lakh had been felled. “Over a hundred trees were damaged too. The agencies have been asked by the NGT bench to save these damaged trees but nothing has been done so far,” said Ghosh.
Source: Times of India
Abdul Gaffar Khan Marg, Chattarpur, DDA flats, DDA Janta Market, Dehradun, Delhi University, Environmental damage, Forest Research Institute, Ghosh, Lado Sarai, Mahipalpur, N Ranganathan, NGT, NH-8, PWD, PWD official, Sanjay Kumar, Sonya Ghosh, South Delhi, Vasant Kunj
