Delay in North MCD underbridge construction causes 24 deaths

It seems that there is no end to the woes of the residents of Trinagar’s Rampura area, falling under the jurisdiction of North Delhi Municipal Corporation, as the civic body has failed to construct a rail underbridge which was set to be opened before the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Unprecedented delay by the civic agency and the Railways has not only caused severe traffic related problems in the entire locality but have been proving fatal as people are forced to cross the unsafe railway tracks under which the underbridge is being constructed.

The worst part is that over 24 people have lost their lives in the last couple of years while crossing the tracks in absence of proper passage, however, the authorities are yet to ensure safety of people crossing the tracks by completing the much-delayed project at the earliest.

As per the report proposal the construction of the underpass was approved in September 2009 and a deadline of 12 months was fixed to complete the project but construction work began in December 2011. The departments — MCD, Railway and traffic/transport — had claimed that the work would be finished by April 2013 but failed to meet the deadline again and now the situation is that even after three years of revised deadlines, more than 20 per cent construction is left. The cost of the project was Rs 24.3 crore which has now gone up as the total money has been spent while one-fifth work is yet to be done. 

After facing criticism, the North MCD has claimed that it would finish work before May this year. 

“We had some disputes with the Railways and the state government due to which the project was delayed. After settling the issue, we hope to operate the stretch by mid-June,” said an official monitoring the project.

The worst part is that the failure of North MCD is posing life threats to the residents living in the vicinity. 

The locals claim that there is at least one death every month as the death toll has crossed the 24 mark in the last two years. “We have been witnessing accidents on a regular basis here. School-going children are the worst hit as they cross the tracks to reach their schools. In the last two months, three students have been killed after coming in contact of moving trains,” said Anil Bhardwaj, former MLA of the area.

As far as the traffic is concerned, the railway track connects Trinagar, Rampura, Keshavpuram, Lowrence road, etc to Punjabi Bagh, Jakhira, Rohtak road, etc. Absence of an underpass causes massive jam and chaos in various nooks. “The underpass was approved earlier but was incomplete due to inefficiency of the civic administration. The agency must pay heed on the need by ensuring speedy construction,” said Mukesh Goel, Leader of Opposition.