On Delhi’s Narwana Road, potholes, craters but no repair work

Since 2019, the road that runs through the apartment complexes in Indraprastha Extension in east Delhi has been a work in progress

New Delhi: Potholes that stretch over several metres, manholes dotting the road, and dug-up portions left either neglected or only poorly repaired — the Narwana Road in east Delhi has been a nightmare for commuters for the past 20-25 years.

A dug up stretch of Narwana Road on March 24, 2023. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Since 2019, the road that runs through the apartment complexes in Indraprastha Extension in east Delhi has been a work in progress. The 2.7-kilometre stretch, from Mother Dairy to Arya Nagar Apartments, has earned notoriety for being dug up perennially notorious for being dug up over the last many years. It was one of the 16 roads in Delhi that was approved by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in November 2019 to receive a facelift. But, nearly four years later, it remains broken.

Residents say that the promise of a model road had left them hopeful, but the “slow pace” of work has ensured no immediate relief. “The renovation of the road was a good project, but the pace is so slow that there is more digging work happening by various civic agencies than the actual repair of the road,” said Vijender Sharma, secretary of the Residents’ Welfare Association of Ekta Garden Apartments, one of the 30-odd apartment complexes located along the road.

“I have seen the road in a similar condition for the last 25 years that I have been living in this neighbourhood, but there were some improvements over the recent years. Then, the announcement of a redesign in 2019 had really got our hopes high,” said Sharma.

The road was dug up again last week for electrical work, locals said, leaving motorists with just one carriageway. “I will be surprised if the road is restored to its earlier self, once this digging up work is completed,” said Ramcharan Singh, security guard at one of the apartment complexes, echoing the sentiments of residents around here.

By Monday, however, the road had been filled up.

On Friday, HT drove on both carriageways to gauge the condition of the road that joins the Mandawali Road on one end and the Mother Dairy plant at the other. Barring a 300-metre-long stretch on both the carriageways on the Mandawali Road end, and around 800 metres of one carriageway on the Mother Dairy plant end, there was hardly any stretch that was without potholes.

A couple of manhole covers popped up half a foot from the road surface, while a few others were sunk into the ground, leaving motorists with sudden sharp rises or drops on their rides. A number of speed breakers were also present — unwarranted, given the number of potholes that peppered the road, ensuring that motorists slowed down their vehicles.

Gaurav Gupta, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said the poor upkeep of the road affects traffic. “The potholes often slow down the movement of vehicles on that stretch of road,” said the DCP.

As buses swung and swayed while trying to avoid these potholes and mounds, and as loose gravel flew into the air every now and then, local residents blamed the nature of repair works carried out after every digging exercise on Narwana Road. “Each time a part of the road is dug up, whether for laying cables or for cleaning sewers, the respective agency covers it up by dumping cement or tar over the cavity. They do not care to even prevent vehicles from plying on the stretch till the cement is dry,” said Ashwani Ranjan, who runs a shop adjacent to the road.

Uneven mounds of dried cement — with tyre marks of vehicles running through them — at multiple places on this road justified Ranjan’s anguish. Two-wheeler riders said they were most at risk while travelling on such road surfaces. “For car drivers, it is about the damage to their vehicles. For those on two-wheelers, it is about saving their lives,” said Ratnendra Pathak, a food delivery agent operating in this neighbourhood.

The constant digging and poor restoration of the road has virtually left it unfit for vehicles and unsafe for pedestrians.

A senior PWD official said that while the problem arising due to pipe leakages was resolved during revamp work, power discom was conducting digging work on emergency basis. “Around 200 metres of stretch has been dug up by BSES for which they had sought road cutting permission for emergency request. These patches will be repaired by the power discom. We will expedite the remaining work on the revamp of the overall Narwana road stretch over the next two months,” the officials said.

A BSES spokesperson said that “the recent digging in the area was necessary to energize BYPL’s upcoming IP Extension Narwana Road Grid”, and that the “patches will be covered by March 31.”

Potholes, meanwhile, have been filled with tar in some cases, but have usually been neglected. On Friday, HT found a heap of debris dumped into one pothole, located near Konark Apartments. “We took it upon ourselves to cover this pothole. When the government is so slow with their work, this is the only option we have,” said a resident of a nearby apartment complex, who did not identify himself.

Vinod Varshney, chairman of the Association of Cooperative Housing Society of IP Extension, said the current renovation work on this road began soon after Kejriwal’s announcement in November 2019, but the work has seen several hindrances. “First came the Covid-19 lockdown, which stalled the work altogether. Then we heard about a shortage of funds. After that, an environmentalist complained about damage to trees due to the renovation works. Now, the work is moving at a snail’s pace, even though the deadline is March 31 this year,” said Varshney, who is taking a personal interest in the repair of this road.

He said that a third of the road has been repaired as per the renovation plan, but there is an uncertainty over the rest of the stretch. “The main work that remains is the top layering (carpeting) of the road. Since manhole covers pop in and out of the road surface, the layering will have to be unusually thick to offer motorists a non-bumpy ride,” said Varshney.

For now, all that the residents here want is a usable road before monsoon hits the city. “We were promised that a model road would pass through our colony. Looking at it now, even village roads are better,” said Anmol Singh, a local resident.