GK-I Residents demand better last mile connectivity

Since 2011, residents have had several rounds of meetings with the DTC officials and state ministers for extending the bus services of route no. 615, 610, 621 and 544. However, despite agreeing to their demands, no concrete action has been taken by concern authority in this regard. HT had reported the matter in March last year.

With a couple of days to the second phase of odd even rule to be implemented in the city from April 15 to 30, residents of colonies with poor public transport facilities are demanding authorities to make better arrangements for the last mile connectivity. Despite extra buses being introduced on different routes by the transport authority during the first phase of odd even rule, residents of Safdarjung enclave, GK-1 and 2 complained about no such facility available to them.

DTC nor Delhi Metro feeder buses covered the inner parts of Greater Kailash I. (S Burmaula/ HT Photos)

“We didn’t see any DTC bus plying in our area covering the important arterial roads like Ch Harsukh Marg and Ch Jhandu Marg during the first phase of the odd even rule. In fact, we have been struggling to get connected to Safdarjung and neighbouring areas like Arjun Nagar, Humayunpur, Krishna Nagar and Green Park extension via DTC buses for the last five years,” said SS Rudra, convenor of Federation of RWAs.

Since 2011, residents have had several rounds of meetings with the DTC officials and state ministers for extending the bus services of route no. 615, 610, 621 and 544. However, despite agreeing to their demands, no concrete action has been taken by concern authority in this regard. HT had reported the matter in March last year.

“Reaching the Metro station is expensive as commuters end up spending money on autos and rickshaws when buses could have solved the purpose. Sstudents and senior citizens who can’t drive suffer in the existing circumstances. Even during the odd even days, people have to make arrangements on their own as the area representatives do little to resolve the problem,” said MK Gupta, a resident of GK-1.

Gupta had filed a PIL in 2014 with the Delhi High Court for providing feeder bus services on two routes connecting the inner lanes of GK-1 to Kailash Colony, Moolchand Metro station, Hauz Khas Metro station via Gargi and Kamla Nehru College.

“In response to his petition, the HC gave orders in September 2014 to the DMRC to start the bus service on route number ML-77 within four weeks. They were given time till February 28, 2015 to comply with the orders, but the last deadline crossed over a year back, and no action was taken,” said Gupta.

Concerned about the last mile connectivity, residents of GK-2 had a meeting with the stakeholders in past. “As of now, we have no feeder service in the area. To ensure this would not be the case in the future, after the construction of GK Enclave I Metro station, as part of the DMRC project plan for Phase III to be completed by 2017, we already shared our concern during the United Traffic and Transport Infrastructure (Planning and Engineer) Centre (UTTIPEC) meeting where all stakeholders concerned were present,” said Chetan Sharma of GK-2.

will add official input