Khandsa FOB misses deadline, will now be ready by March

Gurugram: The proposed foot overbridge (FOB) at Khandsa Chowk, identified as a major black spot due to the high number of accidents, will now be operational by March,

Gurugram: The proposed foot overbridge (FOB) at Khandsa Chowk, identified as a major black spot due to the high number of accidents, will now be operational by March, officials of the National Highways Authority of India said on Monday. The original deadline for the FOB was January this year, but the ₹3 crore project got delayed due to the ban on construction in the wake of high air pollution levels, the officials said.

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At least 21 people were killed in 156 accidents that took place at the busy intersection on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway between 2016 and 2018, as per a report prepared by Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ), which is a campaign aimed at bringing down road traffic deaths in the state.

“The FOB at Khandsa crossing is being made on the request of HVZ considering the safety of pedestrians. It will be functional by March-end,” said Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI.

According to the NHAI contractor, though work on the FOB started in September, they were not able to complete it due to time lost in construction ban by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority. Praveen Kumar, NHAI contractor for the Khandsa FOB, said, “We lost around one month to the construction ban which was lifted last month. Also, we are not allowed to do any construction work during night.”

In January last year, HVZ had asked NHAI to make three FOBs at Khandsa, Bilaspur and Kapdiwas. The highways authority approved the construction of an FOB at Khandsa Chowk, while kept the other two on the back burner. Sarika Panda Bhatt, programme coordinator with HVZ, said, “Having an FOB at Khandsa was a priority for us as the number of pedestrians crossing this junction is huge.”

The FOB at Khandsa will be similar to the old FOBs on the expressway. There is no provision of elevator or escalator at the proposed FOB. “There is no provision of having an elevator in this FOB. Also, there won’t be any escalator due to lack of space,” said Kumar. However, the FOB will have a ramp for differently abled people, he said.

Though there is an FOB just 500m from the current site, expressway officials insisted that a new overbridge be made for the safety of pedestrians. “The reason why an FOB is being constructed at the crossing is that there are many factories in Khandsa and workers only cross at this junction. So, the proposed FOB will help them cross to the other side of the expressway,” said Subhash Yadav, general manager (operations), Skylark, toll operator of the expressway.