The mindless felling of hundreds of trees for a road-widening project prompted Vasant Kunj resident Sonya Ghosh to turn to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in March for a stay. Thanks to her efforts, the tribunal stayed the Public Works Department’s (PWD) controversial Mehrauli-Mahipalpur road construction project which has so far claimed 267 trees worth Rs.74 lakh. The final hearing is slated on December 6, which could seal the fate of the 3.5km, three-phase road widening project once and for all.
“Hundreds of trees were wiped out overnight without permission. This has affected the water level of the area,” said Ghosh, an assistant professor at Delhi University.
Ghosh’s complaint not only brought into focus PWD’s negligence, but also opened a Pandora’s Box of unsavoury facts pertaining to the allotment of the contract and its approval by the principle authority, Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC).
Approval woes
In a document accessed by The Sunday Standard, it has been reported that in the 35th UTTIPEC Governing Body meeting on February 28, 2012, the proposal for widening the Mehrauli-Mahipalpur Road was approved “in principle” on the condition that detailed plan of the entire BRT/IRT Corridor prepared by DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System) would be followed by PWD after obtaining necessary approval from UTTIPEC and other agencies. However, PWD without waiting for an approval from UTTIPEC, issued the tender and awarded the contract to M/s KCC Buildcon Private Limited at the negotiated amount of Rs. 38 crore.
Another Vasant Kunj resident, Rajiv Makin, said, “The tender was awarded vide PWD communication dated October 8, 2012 based on a sanction letter dated September 7, 2012, bearing Sanction No.SS/PWD/40/2012-13, wherein it is mentioned that the cost of project is `58 crore and that administrative approval has been received. The meetings that followed between PDW and UTTIPEC officials, however, a copy of which we have, gives a clear picture that no approval from UTTIPEC was granted to PWD.”
The malpractices
Residents of Masoodpur, meanwhile, taken up the cudgels against a PWD superintending engineer who they claim has been indulging in malpractices to help the owner of a plot which comes in the way of the road widening project. According to them, the plot owner has allegedly paid `50 lakh to the engineer even though he was directed by a court to hand over his land with due compensation.
The residents added that the engineer made a new plan to save the plot. The alignment plan uploaded for community feedback shows no changes to it from Andheria More till Fortis but when one moves towards Masoodpur the deviation made is contrary to the approval given by the technical committee on February 1, 2007.
The residents added that the contractors were working on piecemeal basis and have dug up roads. “We also objected to UTTIPEC asking for community feedback. This clearly shows that the feedback is just a basic formality that was earlier missed and is going to be treated as a formality,” said Rupender Malik, a Masoodpur resident. The residents filed a complained to Ashok Bhattacharjee, Director, Member Secretary, UTTIPEC, on November 22, 2013.
Errors in planning
It has also been noted now that there were fundamental errors in planning of the construction of the road. In a letter by Masoodpur residents, it has been stated that, “Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road is a National Highway and as per Delhi Master Plan was supposed to be 90 metres wide but to safeguard farm houses it has been reduced to 45 metres. The sole purpose of widening the road to 75 metres is to give clear access to the farm houses without considering millions of people staying in approved colonies of Vasant Kunj.”
Malik said of the 75 metres, only 28 metres is being utilised for traffic movement. “The current road width is 25m. Only three extra metres are being added for actual movement of traffic. This clearly stated that there is actually no requirement of extending this road to 75m,” he said.
The other side
Ramesh Dhankar, Project Manager, Buildcon Private Limited, however, said the builders had all necessary approvals from PWD. “PWD got all the approvals from UTTIPEC and then our contract was awarded. Although at the moment we only have permission to work on 75 metres that does not touch the market. But we cannot go ahead because we do not have necessary clearance from the Green Tribunal because some trees were cut,” he admitted.
Interestingly, PWD officials refused to comment on tree felling. And repeated attempts to reach the office of the engineer concerned for comment also failed.