More signage, barriers at Delhi’s Barapullah after flyover accident

PWD has also sought a report from officials concerned regarding how the incident took place, officials aware of the matter said

After a 42-year-old man died after driving off the edge of an incomplete section of the Barapullah extension flyover near east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, the Public Works Department (PWD) on Monday increased barricading and will put up more signage to ensure that access to the stretch remains restricted.

On Friday, at around 8.20pm, Jagndeep died after his car fell around 30 feet from the incomplete flyover into the Yamuna floodplains, completely crushing the Maruti Suzuki Wagon R. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

PWD has also sought a report from officials concerned regarding how the incident took place, officials aware of the matter said.

“For nearly an entire year, we will just have to keep this stretch blocked till construction is completed from the other side. For now, we have placed two rows of heavy concrete barriers, completely blocking the entrance. One row of concrete barriers were already placed there. We are now going to paint large signage as well to indicate that there is no functional road ahead and no right or U-turn. People can only take the ramp on the left side to go towards Noida Link Road,” said a PWD official, asking not to be named.

On Friday, at around 8.20pm, Jagndeep died after his car fell around 30 feet from the incomplete flyover into the Yamuna floodplains, completely crushing the Maruti Suzuki Wagon R. Jagndeep was on his way home in Krishna Nagar after finishing work at his office in Noida’s Sector 26. Investigators are yet to determine what he was doing on the incomplete flyover the vehicle, as it was not on his way and why he swayed from the route that he had been taking for the past 15 years.

Police said the Barapullah extension flyover is at least a year from completion, and the stretch is unmotorable. The construction of the 3.5km stretch of the Barapullah elevated road began in April 2015 and was slated to finish by October 2017.

The incomplete stretch where the fall took place was barricaded at its starting point and is to be linked to a stretch from the Sarai Kale Khan side. Officials as well as locals said that antisocial elements often remove the barricades and create temporary access for vehicles. Locals on Monday alleged that the entrance to the stretch was only partially barricaded. PWD disputed the allegation.

“This road is blocked by PWD and there is no traffic movement. It is broken in patches too. So, some people go there to consume alcohol. We often see groups of men removing the barricades and going in,” said Furqan, the eyewitness who alerted the police about Friday’s crash.

PWD officials admitted that they have faced a similar problem in the past as well.

“People still remove these heavy barriers and make their way in. Several times in the past, these barriers have been removed and we get them replaced. This can only be done intentionally by antisocial elements who are looking for a secluded spot,” said the PWD official.

The third phase of the Barapullah elevated road project is expected to connect Mayur Vihar with Sarai Kale Khan through a signal-free stretch, and is likely to cut the travel time between east and south Delhi to about 20 minutes.