Metro work to eat up pedestrian space on Kharak Singh Marg

Pedestrians are likely to have a harrowing time on Baba Kharak Singh Marg in the coming months, reports Nivedita Khandekar.

Pedestrians are likely to have a harrowing time on Baba Kharak Singh Marg in the coming months. The new traffic management plan for the on-going construction of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s Airport Express line will leave a very narrow pedestrian way on the road that witnesses a huge number of pedestrians apart from motor vehicles.

HT Image

The road sees heavy vehicular traffic as it is one of the most important links between the heart of the city and Dhaula Kuan. There are also a regular crowd of shoppers, tourists and worshippers — there is a film theatre, a Hanuman temple, a number of state emporia and the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara on the road — who use the pedestrian way.

Delhi Traffic Police is conducting trial runs to convert the stretch between the GPO round about and the RML round about into a one-way road. The other change would be on the stretch between Connaught Place Outer Circle and the GPO round about.

While one carriageway would be entirely closed down for traffic, the second one would be supported with an additional stretch that is coming up on the footpath. Effectively, four metres of the road would be available on each side.

The DMRC, however, is confident about the plan. DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal defended the construction saying, “We plan to leave space on both sides for pedestrians. We are sure that pedestrian movement will not be affected.”