The ministry of urban development has instructed the state administrations of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to speed up the construction of projects and also fix the responsibility for the delay.
In this regard, urban development secretary Rajiv Gauba held a meeting with the authorities concerned to discuss the halted projects connecting Delhi to UP and Haryana. Sources said he expressed displeasure over the slow progress on these projects. “The secretary was dissatisfied with the work done by the state authorities concerned in these projects. He also informed the various departments of the states that these projects are significant in the wake of the rise in traffic congestion and pollution level in Delhi,” said a senior official.
The urban development ministry believes that once completed, these projects would play a key role in reducing traffic congestion in major arteries of Delhi as well as pollution. “There are nine different projects connecting Delhi and Haryana, including Kalindi Kunj bypass connecting Delhi and Faridabad. Similarly, there are four projects linking Delhi with UP,” said the official.
Conceived in 2002, the Kalindi Kunj bypass project remains incomplete due to land acquisition issues. Under the project, a part of the road has to pass through the land owned by the UP irrigation department. The transfer of this piece of land is proving to be a major hurdle. Once complete, this bypass will help decongest NH-2 and Ashram Chowk. The bypass will begin from Ring Road near DND flyover and terminate near Badarpur border. “Since part of the bypass is to be constructed on land in UP, concerned Delhi and UP government departments have been told to resolve such issues. Besides, help has also been sought from the Haryana government to fast-track this project’s work,” added the official.
Similarly, construction of another bridge on Yamuna connecting Noida and Kalindi Kunj will also help ease traffic congestion between south Delhi and Noida. “Delhi PWD has been instructed to work on this along with their UP counterpart and send a proposal to fast-track the project,” added the official. Delhi has the largest number of vehicle population of over 95 lakh. Over 32 per cent out of this are four-wheelers. As per a PWD official, construction of these projects will help decongest the roads a lot.
The connectivity of Delhi with NCR areas got a major boost when the government last week gave a green signal to the long-awaited Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor. Expected to start operations by 2024, the corridor would reduce travel time between the capital and Meerut to about an hour.