Land approved for building Mukarba Chowk underpass in Delhi

This project is part of the 77 corridors identified for decongestion in the Capital, for areas where bottlenecks were identified

Lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena has approved the long-pending transfer of 1.2 acre of land belonging to the irrigation and flood control department (I&FC) to the Public Works Department (PWD) for the construction of an underpass in north Delhi’s Mukarba Chowk, according to officials aware of the development.

An approach road from Badli Junction to Haiderpur Metro Station in north Delhi will also be constructed, the LG office said in a statement on Friday. (PTI)

The construction of the underpass is expected to ease traffic congestion at the critical junction used by both local traffic as well as commuters headed towards Haryana.

An approach road from Badli Junction to Haiderpur Metro Station in north Delhi will also be constructed, the LG office said in a statement on Friday.

The land transfer was pending since last year, due to a tussle between the Delhi government’s PWD and I&FC department.

Saxena flagged the issue of lack of communication between the two departments during meetings when he reviewed the progress of the project in September 2022, the LG office said.

This project is part of the 77 corridors identified for decongestion in the Capital, for areas where bottlenecks were identified.

In February 2017, a task force constituted by the then LG identified 77 road corridors in Delhi to implement several measures to remove severe traffic congestion. The task force categorised the 77 congested corridors into A, B and C categories based on the volume of road users. However, the progress on the project has been slow.

“The work on this project will be carried out in such a manner that it does not affect or disturb any utilities services provided by the other departments already land in underground. However, if any utility services are disturbed by the PWD then the same will be restored by the PWD at their own cost. The construction of underpass shall be carried by jack pushing pre-cast RCC boxes,” LG office said in a statement. Some of the tasks, as listed by officials, include the construction and widening of roads, removal of bus terminals, creation of new parking spaces along major roads, construction of multi-level parking lots, construction of pedestrian bridges and underpasses, etc.

The interventions have already led to better traffic flow on several corridors including Moti Bagh-Rao Tula Ram Marg, New Rohtak Road, Old Patparganj Road, Loni Road, Babarpur Road, Old Gurgaon Road and Bijwasan-Najafgarh Road, according to the above quoted officials.

However, the status of progress of the entire project was not immediately available.

“It is underlined that the LG has time and again stressed seamless inter-departmental coordination and advised officers to not act in silos,” the statement from LG office said.

HT reached out to the I&FC department as well as PWD, which did not respond to queries seeking comments.