From East Delhi to the Western fringes of the city, construction work is causing huge traffic pile-ups and even leading to accidents, according to Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWA).
Those who live around sites of massive infrastructure projects don’t have anything against the construction itself, but they alleged that the builders are not paying heed to safety and vehicular management rules.
One such area is Patparganj in East Delhi, where residents said driving has become a nightmare. “Metro construction has been going on in this area for around two years and the roads are a mess,” said Varinder K. Arora, the convenor of the Delhi Residents’ Forum and an East Delhi resident himself.
Mr. Arora added that Mayur Vihar-I, Karkardooma and Krishna Nagar were also affected by the DMRC’s work. “We get stuck in traffic for an hour and there are no exits to the main road from our residential societies as the roads are blocked,” he said.
According to residents in the area, minor accidents have also increased. “There are no barriers in many spots. The Metro has appointed marshals, but they just chit-chat with each other. This has led to many accidents,” said Mr. Arora.
In North-West Delhi’s Shalimar Bagh, traffic has been hit by multiple projects on the same road. A member of the Shalimar Bagh CA- Block RWA, Ritesh Dewan, explained that a Metro line, an elevated corridor and a flyover expansion were being built at the same time.
“It takes 40 minutes to an hour just to cross the Azadpur flyover. There is anyway a lot of traffic on this stretch because people coming from Rohini take a shortcut and the Wazirpur industrial area is nearby,” said Mr. Dewan.
The lack of coordination between the different road agencies and contractors has made the daily commute for Shalimar Bagh residents hell.
In Paschim Vihar too residents are tired of a flyover project that has hit traffic for around two years. Resident and ex-president of the Pashchim Vihar GS-14 RWA Sandeep Vig said the erstwhile Sheila Dikshit Government’s Rs. 4,000 crore Outer Delhi corridor has led to hours wasted on the road.
“Construction on the elevated corridor from Vikaspuri to Meera Bagh has meant that traffic moves at barely 10 km/h speed. The contractors have just poured concrete on the side roads, which has not set so the roads are not levelled,” said Mr. Vig.
