Road to hell starts from Wazirabad

It is probably one of the worst stretches of roads in Delhi. While the road network of Delhi got a makeover during the Commonwealth Games — the infrastructure projects completed in time and the black-top of road smoothly laid —Wazirabad Road, one of the arterial roads in the Capital in north-east Delhi, was conveniently ignored.

It is probably one of the worst stretches of roads in Delhi. While the road network of Delhi got a makeover during the Commonwealth Games — the infrastructure projects completed in time and the black-top of road smoothly laid —Wazirabad Road, one of the arterial roads in the Capital in north-east Delhi, was conveniently ignored.

HT Image

With half of the carriageway taken over by the Delhi Jal Board for laying sewer line and the remaining half broken, thanks to waterlogging caused due to broken storm water drain, Wazirabad Road is a nightmare for motorists.

Though the bumpy ride starts as soon as one reaches the Bhajanpura crossing, the worst comes further down towards Yamuna Vihar where the DJB has been laying the sewer line for more than three years now. Senior DJB officials said it may take at least a year more before the work is finally completed and the road is handed over to the public works department for repair.

A part of north east Delhi, Waziarabad Road is an important link between Delhi and Ghaziabad. A large number of inter-state vehicles coming from Haryana and Punjab take Wazirabad Road on way to Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. More than 80,000 vehicles take this stretch everyday. Interesting, while the

“It is not that we are not concerned about the road. The DJB while carrying out its work broke the two storm water drains that run parallel to this stretch and has also removed the footpath. This has spoilt the drainage system and water now flows to the main road. It has resulted in big potholes,” PWD chief engineer (maintenance) Vinay Kumar said.

PWD engineers said they have bow taken up the matter at the government level. “The DJB has dug six pits at 100-metre distance each to facilitate its work. They have to cover these pits, which they have promised to complete in next few months. We will only be able to take up the repair job after that,” Kumar said.

DJB engineers, meanwhile, said laying trunk sewer line is an important infrastructure project which will help solving sewage problem of a number of colonies north of Wazirabad Road.

“But we didn’t get support from the residents. Our work was stopped thrice — first during the municipal elections in 2007, then for Assembly elections in 2008 and again for parliamentary elections in 2009. We are still taking it up very fast and hope to complete it soon,” a DJB engineer said, requesting anonymity.