Plan to de-congest Old Delhi-Gurgaon road runs into blockade

After several rounds of repairs failed to de-congest the Old Delhi-Gurgaon road, MCG has come up with a Rs 56 crore plan to widen and overhaul the stretch. Apart from a small section, between Mahavir Chowk and Atul Kataria Chowk, where the road cannot be wider than 4 lanes due to lack of space, most of the stretch will be converted into 6 lanes.

But Mayor Vimal Yadav says the current plan does not address two major problems on this road — congestion at Atul Kataria Chowk and lack of space for heavy trailers coming from the Maruti factory for a turnaround.

"It seems the engineers have prepared the plan without understanding the ground reality. Either a flyover or an underpass should be constructed at Atul Kataria Chowk because it witnesses traffic jams every other day. Similarly, there is not enough space for the trailers coming from the Maruti factory for a turnaround. There is certainly a need to provide enough turning radius to these trailers," said Yadav.

"The road upgradation should cater to the demands of the future. The MCG officials are not able to think beyond today. I will not approve the plan in its current format," he added.

When asked, Municipal Corporation's executive engineer Abhinav Verma said, "A consultant was hired to prepare the road development plan. However, I was not a part of the team responsible for this as I have joined recently. We are making provisions for the Maruti trailers to turn without blocking the traffic. As far as the idea of making Atul Kataria Chowk signal-free is concerned, we are studying if a flyover or an underpass can be included in the plan.”