Prem Nagar residents forced to walk the deadly tracks, demand underpass

Prem Nagar Colony is located along the serpentine railway tracks near the Patel Nagar railway station.

Hundreds of Prem Nagar residents in west Delhi risk their lives every day, crossing the railway tracks to reach their destination. The only level crossing in the area, they say, is closed most of the day, and the alternative routes entail long detours. For hundreds, the railway tracks have already turned out to be a death trap. Response to an RTI filed by local residents Shravan Kumar Chaubey and Dilip Gupta reveals that about 514 accidents have taken place on the tracks between 2010 and 2017, in which 436 people died and 78 were critically injured.

School children walk on railway tracks to reach school, at Prem Nagar, in New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Using the info provided in response to their RTI plea, Chaubey and Gupta file a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court in 2018 through advocate Prashant Bhushan and Devesh Agnihotri. They sought construction of a road underpass connecting Prem Nagar to Rama Road. During a recent hearing, the high court on July 19 criticised the Northern Railways and the North MCD officials, asking them to appear before the court on the next date of hearing on August 30.

Prem Nagar Colony is located along the serpentine railway tracks near the Patel Nagar railway station. It is home to 62,000 people, comprising of lower middle-class people and low-wage workers, most of whom are employed in the Najafgarh Road industrial area across the tracks. There are many families in Prem Nagar which have lost their members to accidents on the tracks.

“Our son died last year. He was the sole bread winner in our family. Now his wife has to work and we look after our 2-year-old granddaughter,” said Shamsher Singh, whose 28-year old son Ravinder Singh, was hit by a train while crossing the tracks September 2018.

Rajender Kumar, 59, a sub-inspector with the Delhi police, lost his 50-year-old sister Kanta in November 2018. She too was hit a by a train while crossing the tracks to catch a bus on the other side. Kumar, born in Prem Nagar, has seen several deaths due to accidents on the tracks. “Politicians come asking for votes and promise an underpass and a foot over bridge. We have waited for many years, but nothing has happened,” he said.

Prem Nagar railway crossing, residents say, remains closed most of the time. About 45 local and express trains—including the Rajdhani Express and the Shatabdi Express, and 38 goods trains run on the route. Despite accidents, every morning students, office goers and others are tempted to cross the tracks to reach the Rama and Najafgarh Road or the nearest metro station, Sat Guru Ram Singh Marg (on the Green Line) because alternative routes through Baljeet Nagar and Anand Parbat are longer and chronically congested during peak hours.

“The railway crossing opens only 5-6 times a day. Earlier we could take our vehicles across the tracks but now the tracks are undergoing maintenance and have been dug up,” said Rann Bahadur, a local resident.

The residents have been demanding an underpass for several years now and all they have got are two foundation stones -- one for a Road under Bridge (RUB) and the other for a foot overbridge.

The RUB project was approved in 2010 by the Union urban development ministry and former MP Ajay Maken had laid the foundation stone in 2014. However, work never began. Residents say their several letters and reminders to the authorities have not helped.

“The foundation stone of the RUB was laid only after the money and the proposal was approved. In fact ₹50 lakh was also given to the concerned authority for the work. But what happened thereafter is for my successors to tell, “ Maken, the former MP, said.

When asked why the construction of the RUB has not begun, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation officials cited fund crunch. Varsha Joshi, commissioner, North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said, “We had sought money from Urban Development Fund, (released by the union government), but it does not cover the land acquisition cost which was too high. The project cannot be done by the Delhi government as it undertakes projects only on roads above 60 ft. The RUB project has not been shelved but has been put on hold due to lack of funds. We are waiting, and as soon as funds are available, the construction would start.”

In February this year, local MP Meenakshi Lekhi laid the foundation stone of the foot overbridge. Eighty percent of the cost (₹5.72 crore) is to be met by the urban development fund and 20% from MPLAD (₹1.43 crore). According to the Railways, the foot overbridge will have a ramp for two wheelers, including motorcycles and scooters. The residents say what they need is an underpass for four-wheelers, including school buses and ambulances.

“The foot overbridge (FOB) is being constructed since the RUB is not feasible. The topographical survey has been done and structural drawings are under preparation. An amount of ₹97.35 lakh was received from MPLAD fund on July 19. The target date of completion of the FOB is April 2020,” said SC Jain, DRM, Delhi Division, PRO, Northern Railways.

Lekhi said that she had to run for five years from pillar to post to get a solution for the residents. “Residents were meeting accidents and several lives were being lost. After I was elected in 2014, I approached every department, including the MCD and the Delhi government. However, when a solution could not be found, we came up with the plan of the foot overbridge.

“This would serve the purpose of the residents as they can use the ramp on the foot overbridge to take their two-wheelers,” Lekhi said.