Gurgaon: mall evolution too fast for MG Road

The Mall Mile, despite being one of the most important roads of Gurgaon, has been weighed down by various issues ranging from traffic congestions and potholes to lack of traffic lights and cops.

The Mall Mile, despite being one of the most important roads of Gurgaon, has been weighed down by various issues ranging from traffic congestions and potholes to lack of traffic lights and cops.

The condition of the 6-kilometre-long stretch and traffic movement along it has worsened of late with the ongoing work related to its re-carpeting and the construction of the Rapid Metro line, which is not likely to change in the coming few months. Being one of the few areas in Gurgaon which has a conglomeration of corporate offices, residential colonies and shopping arcades, MG Road witnesses heavy traffic movement throughout the day.

“I moved to Gurgaon three years ago and have been working at a firm along MG Road. My house is also along this stretch and I face traffic problems all the time. Starting from the overflow of auto-rickshaws on to the road near the Metro station to Sahara Mall and beyond, there are perennial jams. There are vehicles from residential areas, offices and shopping malls flooding this road,” said Sunny Shukla, a resident of Essel Towers.

The current condition of the road betrays its status as one of the three routes connecting it to the National Capital. With the sheer number of vehicles plying on this road having increased manifold over the years, the lack of parking space becomes a major issue.

“There is a dire need for mult-ilevel parking at MG Road as vehicles can be found parked along roads throughout the day, reducing space on the service roads as well as the main carriageway. We try to impound and challan vehicles but that is not a permanent solution,” said Bharti Arora, joint commissioner of police (traffic), Gurgaon.

She adds that there are two other major problems that plague traffic situation on MG Road currently. One is the issue of the lack of designated parking spaces for auto-rickshaws, due to which they are parked along the length of the Metro stations taking up much of the road space. Another is the lack of planning in the ongoing repair work on the road, which creates major traffic holdups. “We had told the department to start work on one lane at a time but they dug up the entire stretch leaving no space for the vehicles to move,” said Arora.

The public works department (PWD), carrying on the re-carpeting, however, claims that the situation is temporary and will be cleared in the next ten days. According to the concerned executive engineer (XEN), the stretch between Sikanderpur Metro station and the Delhi border was taken up first as it was in the worst of condition and did not even have service roads for diverting traffic during the maintenance.

“The road between Iffco Chowk and Sikanderpur station is relatively better and also has service lanes. Besides, the traffic coming from Delhi gets diluted by the time it reaches Sikanderpur and about 70% of the initial traffic continues on MG Road. This is why we took the most crucial stretch first,” said NK Tomar, XEN, PWD. He added that the repair was taking extra time as the existing crust was being removed for laying the new layer of crust.

A meeting of all related departments on Tuesday regarding traffic issues in Gurgaon is set to discuss issues regarding MG Road, including road widening, designated parking for auto-rickshaws and provision of traffic umbrellas.