NEW DELHI: As part of its broad objective to decongest and beautify the city, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has begun reducing the volume of traffic at both gates of New Delhi Railway station.
According to officials, the decision to ease the traffic flow was taken as the entry and exit gates of New Delhi Railway Station – Ajmeri Gate and Paharganj Gate – have always been centres of traffic jams which see nearly 4 to 5 lakh passengers each day.
The decongestion and beautification programme which has begun in the area involves repairing roads, removal of encroachments, construction of new toilets and setting up of a separate zone for vendors. For the project, the North MCD has collaborated with PWD, Delhi metro and Indian Railways.
A top-level PWD official told this newspaper that while the main execution programme is being carried out by the North MCD, the PWD is looking after road and pothole repairing.
“New police booths on both Ajmeri and Paharganj side have already been built and PWD is doing the development part. The final drawing is yet to be made on this project. It is expected that work will be completed within 6 months,” said a senior official from MCD on condition of anonymity.
The project also involves consultancy appointed by both DMRC and Railways to work on multi-modal integration system.
“We are also in talks with DMRC to allot the vacant lying space to MCD where we will allocate designated spot to vendors. There are also so many shelter homes in the area. We have requested the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board to shift the ones which are on the road,” the official added.
North MCD is also planning to start clearing the Aruna Asaf Ali Road to help decongest the roads leading to the station.