NEW DELHI: Despite repeated government commitments to upgrade city’s roads and a much-publicised pothole-filling campaign, commuters say Delhi’s streets remain unsafe and unreliable. This year’s heavy monsoon, coupled with the swelling of the Yamuna, has worsened matters, leaving arterial roads battered and many neighbourhood streets resembling obstacle courses. Residents across the city describe a daily struggle.
“This monsoon everything just gives way,” said Pradeep Talwar, a resident of Mukherjee Nagar. “What used to be a 10-minute drive takes half an hour; you have to zigzag to avoid craters.”
A Vasant Kunj resident, AK Mehta, voiced similar frustration. “We see beautification projects here, but many internal roads are still full of potholes. The traffic jams on Nelson Mandela Marg or Aruna Asaf Ali Marg aren’t because people want to drive slowly — the roads force them to.” In Jasola village, Mohd Shahdab said that while nearby colonies had seen some repairs, his area continued to be neglected.
“After the rain, slush collects, potholes are invisible, accidents happen every day,” he added. Public anger has also been reflected in surveys. A recent LocalCircles poll found that around 79 per cent of respondents in Delhi NCR rated their local government’s monsoon waterlogging response as “poor” or “pathetic”.
About three-fourths said they lost work hours due to traffic snarls, while nearly two-thirds reported higher vehicle repair and maintenance costs from navigating damaged stretches. Commuters point out that much of the frustration comes from the gap between official promises and the ground reality.
This season’s heavy rainfall has caused major disruption across the city. Key stretches of the Outer Ring Road, Ring Road, Mathura Road, Vikas Marg and the ITitO area have shown serious damage. Localities such as Sangam Vihar, Saket and Rohini have reported caved-in roads and frequent breakdowns of recently repaired surfaces.
The swelling Yamuna has worsened the crisis, with the river breaching its danger mark and flooding large portions of the Ring Road near Majnu Ka Tila, Chandgi Ram Akhara and Nigam Bodh Ghat, resulting in massive traffic jams.
The government insists it has taken steps to improve the situation. In April this year, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta launched a `12.85 crore pothole-elimination drive, promising to strengthen stretches of the Outer Ring Road with dense bitumen concrete and stone matrix asphalt, and to improve visibility and durability through night-time works.
The PWD has also announced a two-year programme targeting thousands of potholes and over 100 km of priority stretches, with patch repairs planned before and after each monsoon. Despite these initiatives, residents argue that progress has been too slow or cosmetic. “Filling potholes is fine — but if the road beneath is weak, the same potholes will appear,” said a commuter from Vasant Kunj.