Munde’s accident spot still awaits a safe roundabout

Despite being suggested by the Delhi Traffic Police (DTP) around three months ago, the idea of building a roundabout at the spot where Union Cabinet Minister Gopinath Munde lost his life after a fatal road accident, still remains a far-fetched idea, said DTP on Monday.

On December 24, DTP communicated a “gentle reminder” to the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) about the proposal forwarded to the authorities as “urgent”, immediately after receiving a feasibility report from the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), informed Muktesh Chander, Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

According to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Anil Shukla, there are no accident hotspots in the entire New Delhi zone because of well-planned roundabouts. The spot where Munde’s car met with the accident is one of the very few intersections in the New Delhi zone without a roundabout.

“We have no idea why the concerned authority is taking so long to start working on the proposal,” Anil Shukla added.

In a high-level meeting held in the last week of September, CRRI had submitted a copy of the feasibility report to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — which helped CBI in working out the case — and another copy to Delhi Traffic Police for the idea to be approved and materialised by the concerned authority, NDMC in this case.

“Cars approaching from Prithviraj Road and heading towards AIIMS, by Safdarjung Road, have to take an unusual oblique drift, which makes the said intersection (where Gopinath Munde met with the fatal accident in June 3, 2014) accident prone. With the proposed redesign, the merging of vehicles at the spot shall take place around 50 to 70 metres away from the main intersection,” said Dr S Velmurugan, head of the traffic engineering and safety division at CRRI. 

He led the feasibility study of the accident spot. The authorities have not yet responded to the proposal. Nor have they pruned the unkempt bushes at one of the wings of the intersection, which makes the spot dangerous. The point regarding the bushes was separately mentioned in the report, Velmurugan added.