Rani Jhansi grade separator misses another deadline

Was supposed to have been completed in September 2010

The unfinished flyover at Rani Jhansi Road.— Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Another deadline, another miss on the cards for the much-delayed Rani Jhansi Road grade separator project, which was supposed to have been completed in September 2010.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation, which took over the project from the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2012, is now saying that it will take another year to finish the 1.6-km-long flyover from near St.Stephen’s Hospital to Filmistaan Cinema.

“The project is about 50 per cent complete. The work orders have been issued to shift water lines near DCM Chowk. That will take about four or five months and the whole project will take one year,” said North Corporation Leader of the House Yogender Chandolia.

Mr. Chandolia had said in April that the project would be completed in six to seven months.

Though work on the flyover is on currently, it took a while to shift Railway staff quarters that were in the way.

First proposed in 1998, construction on the flyover began in 2008 but soon ran into land acquisition hurdles. The cost shot up from the initial cost of Rs.70 crore to Rs.225 crore due to the delay. The North Corporation, which is struggling to make ends meet, says the funding for the project was never a problem as it was a planned expenditure.

Now, the Corporation will be setting up a coordination committee with members of other agencies to resolve land and other issues. Works Committee chairperson Tara Chand Bansal, who inspected the project on Friday, said BSES, Railways and Delhi Government officials will join Corporation officials at monthly meetings.

“We will set a target for each month of what needs to be dealt with. The land retrieved after the project will be used for public services,” said Mr. Bansal.