Drive in south Delhi to free road space under decongestion plan
NEW DELHI: Commuters along south Delhi may get some relief from the massive traffic snarls, as road-owning agencies have started phase-wise anti-encroachment drives to regain road space and facilitate the smooth flow of traffic.
On Saturday, a committee formed on the orders of the Supreme Court under the chairpersonship of Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) vice chairperson, cleared encroachments on roads that were eating up the right of way of pedestrians and motorists.
Among the stretches targeted on Saturday were the Chirag Delhi slip road, MB Road (Lado Sarai to Khanpur Tiraha), Andheria Mor to Fortis (both carriageways), and SSN Marg (CDR Chowk to Dera Mor).
The drive was conducted by a team comprising officials from the Public Works Department (PWD), South Delhi Municipal Corporation ( SDMC), Delhi Police, Civil Defence and the revenue department of Delhi government.
“The width of the roads and pedestrian ways were measured and compared with the required width. Any deficit found was cleared off,” said south Delhi district magistrate Amjad Tak.
The removal of encroachment along these roads will also help in the decongestion plan initiated by the Lieutenant Governor, where five stretches will be fixed on pilot basis to reduce traffic jams and to make them more pedestrian-friendly.
Once the initial work of clearing encroachments is completed, other alterations—as proposed under the decongestion plan— will be implemented in the above mentioned stretches.
In the first phase, the plan includes decongesting stretches such as Aurobindo Chowk to Andheria Mor, Neela Gumbad to Badarpur Flyover, 11 Murti to Dhaula Kuan, Chirag Delhi Crossing to Savitri Flyover, Dhaula Kuan flyover to Gurgaon flyover Sanjay T-point.
These five corridors are a part of t he 28 most congested stretches, identified by the Delhi traffic police.
A key feature of L-G Anil Baijal’s pilot project, apart from reducing traffic, is to give pedestrians a right of way. All the five routes will have new footpaths, foot-over bridges and subways for pedestrians.