A flyover that has been in the making for almost two decades in the national capital has missed yet another deadline. The Rani Jhansi Road Grade separator project, which was to be completed by January this year, is still far from complete.
The 1.6 km Rani Jhansi Road Grade separator project, which was inducted in 1998, was envisaged to provide seamless traffic movement from Pusa Road to the Kashmere Gate ISBT in north Delhi, by bypassing the crowded Azad Market area. However, the flyover has not materialised yet.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), which inherited this four-lane flyover project in 2011 after the trifurcation of the erstwhile MCD, said that only 30% of the work is left to be completed and the flyover is most likely to be thrown open to the public by mid of this year.
Rajeev Kumar, a shopkeeper near the Azad Market, said that the pace of work on the flyover has been very slow and for years, there had been no work done at the flyover.
However, work at some patches of the flyover has begun. However, another shopkeeper in the same area said that he is not hopeful of the flyover getting completed anytime soon. “I have been seeing this for the past 15 years. Sometimes work begins, but it comes to an abrupt halt. This flyover is never going to be completed,” he added.
Commuters here also face a harrowing time wading their way through the crowded market area of Azad Market and Sadar Bazaar to go to St Stephen’s Hospital or the Delhi University area.
The roads here are also in a very poor condition and are mostly broken or full of construction material, making traffic movement very slow and sometimes causing traffic snarls for as long as an hour.
Explaining the delay in the project, Sanjeev Nayyar, NDMC mayor, told The Sunday Guardian that the project had faced several hiccups in the past due to land issues. “Land acquisition was the biggest hurdle for this project as several railway properties, residential complexes, Delhi Jal Board lines, religious properties came in the way of the flyover. We have acquired most of the lands and the project is going to be completed soon.”
The delay has also led to manifold increase in the cost of the flyover. The project cost, which was estimated to be completed in Rs 70 crore, has risen to Rs 450 crore.
The Central government had also recently sanctioned some Rs 85 crore to expedite the project, as it is a crucial project that can help with better connectivity between Pusa Road and north Delhi.