NEW DELHI: Over a month after the Rani Jhansi Grade Separator was inaugurated, the project
has been unable to ease the traffic woes in the North Delhi area of the National Capital. The flyover, which is one of the most controversial road infrastructure projects taken up by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, was opened on October 16, 2018, after an interminable delay where project cost ballooned by 10 times and it took around two decades, since it was conceived by the civic body, to complete.
In a meeting held by the North MCD last week, standing committee discussed the problem of “regular heavy traffic jams on both sides of the carriageway after opening of the grade separator. Standing committee chairman Veena Virmani pinned the blame on the Public Works Department for “callous” attitude. As per the minutes of the meeting, Virmani said, “PWD is the main executing agency and nobody from the department attended the meeting, despite several reminders over the phone from my office. This callous attitude of the PWD officers towards day-to-day hassles faced by the residents of New Delhi is highly condemnable and explanation of concerned officers needs to be called for this lackadaisical approach.”
Although all the major roads in the National Capital are managed by the Public Works Department, but in this case the agency has denied that they have been handed over the road. “The PWD has not been handed over the Rani Jhansi grade separator.
It is between the North MCD and the Delhi police to sort out the issues, which might be arising. We have not been informed of any such thing, and we are not involved,” said a senior PWD official.
In order to solve the issues, the meeting discussed that the PWD should immediately start the implementation of the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC), which is a transportation project, and involves agencies such as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and police. The main focus of the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure-PEC is to work on transport-related problems in congested areas.
Furthermore, as a short-term measure, the wide footpath around the Idgah roundabout should be immediately curtailed and the traffic police proposed to stop illegal parking at Filmistan Cinema, said the stakeholders. “I was a member of the Central Road Research Institute team that conducted the economic feasibility studies of this flyover. The other aspects of the feasibility were not taken into account properly. I have not seen the flyover after it became operational, but I suspect issues such as induced traffic and diverted traffic have not been taken into consideration.”
“Also, since it is a long flyover the surroundings should have been taken into account and this was not done,” said Professor PK Sarkar, director of transport at the Asian Institute of Transport Development (AITD). According to the Delhi police, around 2,000 challans for traffic violations were issued in November on Rani Jhansi road.
The buck stops where?
In a meeting held by the North MCD last week, standing committee chairman Veena Virmani said, “PWD is the main executing agency and nobody from the department attended the meeting, despite several reminders over the phone from my office.” However, a senior PWD official said, “The PWD has not been handed over the Rani Jhansi grade separator. It is between the North MCD and the Delhi police to sort out the issues. We have not been informed of any such thing, and we are not involved.”