GMDA earmarks black spots in Gurugram to curb road mishaps

Gurugram: Taking cognisance of the increased cases of road accidents and traffic jams in the city, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has earmarked major spots in the city that are proving to be black spots. The government body's engineering team is now planning to change the designing of these roads for which it will send a proposal to the state government.

Some of the prominent areas that have been seen as black spots are HUDA City Centre, Mahavir Chowk, Kherki Dhaula, Hero chowk, AtuL Kataria Chowk, etc.

Under this programme, there are already plans to develop an underpass at Atul Kataria Chowk. On an average, there are nine accidents that occur daily in Millennium City. In 2014, there were 1180 cases of accidents leading to 430 deaths. In 2015, the cases slightly reduced to 1140 but the death toll was higher at 435 while in 2016 there were 1201 incidents of accidents leading to 420 deaths. In 2017, there were 481 people who had lost their lives on the roads of Gurugram.

The city that has just come up recently and is now progressing towards being a Smart city, lacks comprehensive planning in road safety, inviting criticism for its planners and administration.

The staggering data only goes on to prove this claim. According to the government figures, in every four minutes one person dies in road accident. Seventeen people lose their lives in an hour due to mishaps on the road. In over a decade, there have been over 10 lakh people who have died due to road mishaps. Forty percent of the victims include pedestrians and two wheeler drivers.

Besides increase in number of accidents, the Millennium city is also grappling with the challenge of congestion and traffic jams that are seen to be the major cause of air pollution. It is important to note that there are over 13 underpasses that have been built in Gurugram. However most of them are at NH-8.