Four months after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had directed PWD officials to make the city roads free of potholes, his deputy and now PWD minister Manish Sisodia on February 26 claimed Delhi would achieve the target within a month. So, how is the PWD going ahead with the target? Also, it is one thing to have smooth roads but completely different if the roads have outlived their life cycle and are in urgent need of strengthening and re-carpeting, not just mere relaying.
Fact remains that nearly all the pain points exist, giving no respite to commuters and residents alike in spite of all the talk, plans and the work done over the years. And it is not roads running inside the residential areas and markets, main roads, sometimes arterial like the Ring Road-Ashram Marg and even flyovers are neglected irrespective of hundreds of complaints from the civic bodies, commuters and the shopkeepers. We visited some of the widely travelled but poorly maintained roads to present the not so smooth ride faced by commuters.
Mother Dairy (Pandav Nagar)
When travelling from Laxmi Nagar towards Mother Dairy, a long stretch of the road is in such a bad shape on both the sides that vehicular traffic is forced to slow down leading to jams. This road connects to Trilokpuri, Mayur Vihar and Vinod Nagar from the left. Plumes of dust kick out each time vehicles hit exposed stretches of gravel, making it unbearable for commuters and residents to breathe. The shopkeepers on the roadside complain that due to the slow traffic jams on the road, very few customers stop at their shops.
“The chaos begins from early morning at about 8 am on this road. This is nothing new. We have been looking at this bad road for so many years. No official has ever come to even fill up potholes. It may be difficult for the commuters to drive but ask the ones who walk. It is equally difficult to walk on such a bad, stony road where you have to look down and walk otherwise there is every chance of a bad fall,” said Narinder Lal, one of the shopkeepers near the Fatima Mosque in Kabir Nagar.
Azad Market Chowk
While driving towards the Walled City’s extension area of Sadar Bazaar or Azad market from Tis Hazari courts towards the Rani Jhansi flyover, any motorist will rue of not taking a U-turn before moving ahead to the Azad Market Chowk. Such is the condition that nobody will be surprised if vehicles swerve after losing grip on the stretch and end in collisions.The road starting from the Roshanara light point till the Azad Market Chowk has been in a bad shape for years but the government apparently is oblivious of the hardship faced by motorists.
Sadar Bazar councillor Jai Prakash, who also served as the former mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said the government was of no help despite writing to the chief engineers in the PWD several times. ‘‘When I had become the mayor, I had initiated the development of the Rani Jhansi Flyover and got it completed in one and half years but later on nobody took care of it. I have written several letters but to no effect.”
A PWD official informed that some parts need more than relaying. ‘‘Repair will be done within this month but the roads which have outlived their life and needs strengthening will take time. We are in the process of floating tenders and selecting the agencies to carry out work. We cannot specify that this road will be relayed in how much time.”
Ashram Chowk/Ring Road
Falling on Ring Road, the Ashram Chowk is chock-a-block due to the construction work on a 750-metre long underpass. Daily commuters, however, complain that the construction work alone is not the only reason for traffic snarls. The roads, they contend, are in poor condition. The Ring Road linking Lajpat Nagar-Sarai Kale Khan and DND flyover is in bad shape on both sides. Relief is unlikely as extension of the six-lane Ashram flyover is expected to take another eight months. A PWD official taking care of the Ashram Marg refused to comment. The stretch which has New Friends Colony on its left faces heavy traffic jams. Two-wheeler riders are often face the peril of toppling over and falling on the other side when they drive on the edge of the broken.
Geeta Colony/Akshardham
Driving on the Akshardham flyover towards Noida is a tough ride as there is a long stretch with uneven surface, broken concrete barriers, exposed rebars and sinkholes and road cracks. When one takes the route of Geeta Colony towards the flyover, a portion of the busy road is seen half-broken from different sides with tar exposed at the edges. An uneven speed breaker at the starting of the flyover leads to a bumpy ride. The road till the Akshardham metro station is in a need of strengthening and carpeting.
“It becomes a pain when you have to take the bad road route every day. It is over three years now and not a single patch has been relayed. The problem worsens during peak hours when traffic slows down. It feels like we are driving in some village,” says a daily commuter.
Ranjit Singh Flyover
The Ranjit Singh Flyover — connecting central Delhi with Old Delhi — is in a bad shape resulting in traffic pile-up that spills over on other stretches. The New Delhi Municipal Council has already initiated strengthening work. One side of the flyover is closed for traffic due to the ongoing repair work. Officials said that the work will be over by April.
Easier said than done
A North MCD official said instructions were issued to repair patches and develop dividers on the roads in their jurisdiction. Roads in need of re-carpeting include the road in front of the LNJP hospital and Ganesh Chowk. “Strict instructions were issued to all officials to take care of their area. We all are working on it. Roads will be redone possibly by the end of March,” a senior PWD official said. “The roads are lying untouched for long because of several reasons ranging from inter-departmental issues to discom work. Till the time, discoms don’t complete a project, we cannot go ahead repairing the road. This is the reason the repairs get delayed like at ISBT-Kashmere Gate and Majnu Ka Tila.”
“Owing to the pandemic, the PWD was receiving lesser funds in the past two years which is why we could not take forward some of the projects. We are working on them now. In the recent past, there was the ban on construction which affected work. This was followed by the winter which acted as another hindrance to take up the road relaying process,” said a PWD official. According to the PWD, 1,200 km of road comes under its jurisdiction and the department follows a five-year cycle wherein the roads undergo a structural test at the end of the cycle. On an average, one fifth of the roads — about 240 km — are relayed every year. “The life cycle of the blacktop of the roads is about five years. It starts eroding because of rainwater. Sometimes, sewer line breaks and further damages the roads,” said the PWD official.
In a statement in October last year, the then PWD minister had said that a survey had identified 1,357 potholes and 309 patches to be repaired. “Under this plan, the PWD will check the conditions of the roads, repair footpaths and potholes,” the statement said. Work suffered, officials said, when the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) banned construction and demolition activities in November 16. The ban was lifted on December 20. After taking over the PWD ministry, Sisodia had told officials to ensure that the roads were repaired efficiently with no delays. Given that the Delhi administration’s second-in-command had warned of initiating action if defects were found, the road ahead seems rough for various civic agencies as well as no respite, more importantly, to lakhs of daily commuters.