NEW DELHI: Every day, the Delhi-Noida Link Road gets choked with traffic during the peak hours. Here, many would suggest widening of roads or disappearance of traffic signals as the solution to cure traffic jams. However, despite the “presence of traffic signal” or “narrow road”, traffic eases the moment one crosses the toll plaza, which is about half-a-kilometer from the actual point where Uttar Pradesh ends and the Union Territory of Delhi begins.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, the term “no-man’s land” refers to a situation or area of activity where there are no rules, or that no one understands or controls because it belongs neither to one nor another. Here, the issue of identity crisis arises. Though one might argue that the pincode of Mayur Kunj, bus stop in the area and the huge blue board clearly states that Mayur Kunj is a part of East Delhi, reality speaks a different story.
Arti Shrivastava, resident of AIIMS apartment, said: “Mayur Kunj is a part of Delhi and yet whenever we book a taxi to go to any part of Delhi, we need to take a gate pass from our society’s security guard or else pay Rs 100 for crossing border. It is as if we are under some house arrest and to move around, we have to take permission. Besides this, every time we book an Ola or Uber, we face a hard time convincing the drivers that Mayur Kunj is indeed part of Delhi and not Noida. It’s like the 2,000 residents of Mayur Kunj are living in a no-man’s land.”
Asked how many security passes have to be issued in a day, Ashok, the security guard of Indian Express Apartment, said: “Usually, we issue about 10-15 passes a day, but on some days, we end up issuing more than 20 passes. As of now, almost everyone books a cab, so we have to issue gate passes for them. Moreover, whenever any commercial vehicle or some food delivery person arrives, they too demand a gate pass as otherwise, the toll plaza will charge them for crossing the border.”
“This daily task of giving gate passes is a headache for all. There have been situations when residents took cabs and after 10 minutes, came back for gate passes. There were times when somebody was in a hurry to leave for office, but had to wait as the security guards were running some errands somewhere,” he added.
As the task of issuing or getting a gate pass has always been a headache for residents of Mayur Kunj, P.J.B. Khorana, president of Mayur Kunj Residents’ Welfare Forum, had written letters to several authorities, but till date nothing has been done.
Khorana said: “There is a simple and definite solution to this cumbersome task, which is to shift the toll plaza to where Delhi actually starts. I have been pursuing this issue since 2012, but everything seems to have fallen on deaf ears. I wrote letters to Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Bipin Bihari Singh, former East Delhi Mayor, DCP (Traffic) Delhi Police, and Sandhya Verma, Councilor East Delhi. We even had a meeting between the Mayur Kunj Welfare Forum and Assistant Commissioner Toll tax at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, where he promised that the toll plaza would be moved to the border. After this meeting, Manish Sisodia had called Atik Ahmed, Deputy Commissioner of EDMC, to do the needful. Atik Ahmed even conducted an inspection of the site, but till date, the nuisance of gate pass continues.”