Facelift turns Moolchand underpass into deathtrap

A flawed “road-recarpeting” operation at one of the busiest underpasses in south Delhi has claimed the lives of four people and critically injured seven in the past four days. All of them were scooterists.

A flawed “road-recarpeting” operation at one of the busiest underpasses in south Delhi has claimed the lives of four people and critically injured seven in the past four days. All of them were scooterists.

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Ahead of the Commonwealth Games, the Public Works Department (PWD) started recarpeting the road at Moolchand underpass a week ago and a one-inch difference between the old and the new layer is proving to be a death trap for scooterists.

In the past 24 hours alone, a 50-year-old woman was killed and a famous singer from Uttarakhand and her brother were admitted with critical injuries at AIIMS.

“The problem is peculiar to scooterists. As soon as they hit the underpass they face a slight speed bump due to the construction work. The entire underpaas has not been recarpeted yet and there is a difference between the old and the new layer. Scooterists are not able to judge this, so the accidents,” said a police officer.

“Chand, who was driving the scooter, lost balance as soon as he hit the underpass. The three were thrown on the road and crushed by a speeding Blueline bus coming from behind. Narayan escaped with injuries.”

On June 25, a mother-son on way to Faridabad met with a similar fate. Gurdeep Kaur (50), who was riding pillion, died of head injuries after she hit a road divider. Her son Gagandeep Singh suffered injuries.

Early on Saturday, 43-year-old singer Kavita Chauhan and her brother Vijay Singh (30) who were returning from Sarojini Nagar, lost balance and fell on the road. Both are critical and are admitted in the ICU at AIIMS Trauma Centre.

An unidentified man was killed on the stretch on Saturday. Police said they have taken up the issue with PWD. Despite repeated attempts, PWD engineer-in-chief Rakesh Mishra could not be contacted for comment.