NEW DELHI: As the ban on construction continues following Supreme Court orders, several Public Works Department (PWD) projects have come to a halt in the city. This includes the projects recently announced by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as well as road maintenance work that has been stopped at several locations.
The apex court had ordered a blanket ban on construction and demolition activities till further notice on 4 November after a “public health emergency” was declared due to the toxic levels of pollution.
“All projects which need construction are not in progress at the moment. This is going to be the case till the Supreme Court orders and withdraws the ban on construction...This includes both small and large scale work including the scrapping of the roads, construction of foot-over bridges and road revamping besides other construction activities,” a senior Public Works Department official told this newspaper.
On October 22, CM Kejriwal announced his government’s plan to redesign stretches of roads in the national capital to combat the problem of traffic congestion and bottleneck roads in the city.
The roads would be redesigned along the line of European cities at a cost of Rs 400 crore within a year, chief minister Kejriwal had claimed.
The tenders for the road revamp, which is one of the major projects that has been affected due to the current ban, were supposed to be floated by November 15.
However, officials from the horticulture department said that anti-pollution projects are still on.
Projects related to sprinkling of water, covering potholes to do away with dust and planting grass and trees are on.
“Some of the projects that are halted due to the ban include schools, hospitals and flyovers,” said a source.
A foot-over bridge on Mohan Singh Market and construction work on Africa Avenue Road has also been affected, the source said.