Ashoka Road in Delhi to be partly shut from Monday for sewer repairs

The traffic restrictions are likely to cause widespread traffic snarls on what is one of the most crucial arterial roads of this part of the Capital

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is set to partially shut one carriageway of Ashoka Road in New Delhi for a period of one month starting Monday in order to carry out repair work on damaged sewer lines that run underneath the road.

Repairs underway on Ashoka Road in New Delhi on Sunday. (Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)

The traffic restrictions are likely to cause widespread traffic snarls on what is one of the most crucial arterial roads of this part of the Capital.

According to NDMC officials, a nearly 1-km stretch of Ashoka Road between the Jaswant Singh Marg roundabout to Windsor Place roundabout will be closed for traffic from August 12 to September 10. “Commuters going from C Hexagon of India Gate towards Windsor Place are advised to use Kasturba Gandhi Marg and reach Windsor Place via the Firoz Shah Road traffic signal,” an official said.

The development comes after the damage to the sewer lines led to two cave-ins on Ashoka Road -- on July 7 and on July 10 -- people aware of the matter said. Almost half the carriageway of the stretch near 14, Ashoka Road is barricaded due to the first cave-in, while the second cave-in, which has been sectioned off near the Windsor Place roundabout, already leads to traffic snarls during peak hours.

The NDMC official quoted above said several of NDMC’s sewer lines were laid down before Independence, and need to be replaced.

“The old sewer line settled and started leaking which led to soil erosion and a portion of road getting damaged. The damaged section of the pipeline will have to be replaced for permanent relief,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

“We are taking up the upgradation work in phases. The old brick barrel lines are also to be rehabilitated starting from Q point to Sunehri Pulla drain via Bharti Nagar and Archbishop Makarios Marg. The repair at Ashoka Road may take many days,” the official added.

A second NDMC official said that Lutyens’ Delhi has many sections where sewer lines are 80-90 years old.

“Sewer lines in areas such as Mathura Road, Lodhi Road, and others have already been rehabilitated, and a project is underway for areas such as CP, KG Marg, Satya Marg, Kautilya Marg, Shanti Path and C-Hexagon. Some of these lines are brick-barrelled and others have been made using concrete through technology which has become obsolete,” the official said.

He said that over the decades, the corrosive gases from the sewers have peeled off the outer layers and bricks are getting stacked at nodes. “This leads to collapse or settlement every year during the monsoon season,” the official said, also requesting anonymity.

Gopal Krishan, who heads the New Delhi RWA federation, blamed the lack of timely repair for the cave-in issue which has been dragging on for at least two weeks now.

“Most of the infrastructure in New Delhi was built before independence, but it has not been upgraded in a timely phased manner. The civic agencies wake up only after a section is damaged. Instead of treating these isolated sites, we need a comprehensive plan for increasing the capacity of the basic infrastructure as the population has gone up several times,” he added.

Rajesh Kushwaha, 42, who works near Patel chowk, said that there are multiple routes to reach his workplace but during the evening peak hours, the New Delhi roundabout faces a chock-a-block situation. “This will increase load on other routes. We hope enough people are deployed especially during evening peak hours and work is wrapped up quickly,” he added.