Spare the roads, don’t spoil Delhi

The Delhi government wants the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to speed up work and hand over those stretches of road on which construction is taking place, reports HT Correspondent.

The Delhi government wants the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to speed up work and hand over those stretches of road on which construction is taking place.

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The government wants the civic agencies to take over these roads for beautification and streetscaping before the first visitors for Commonwealth Games 2010 start arriving in the Capital.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit--who met DMRC managing director E Sreedharan on Wednesday--said she would personally supervise the restoration of roads in a monthly review meeting as some of these roads were on route to Games venues and lined with historical monuments that tourists were likely to visit.

"The meeting was held as DMRC was not willing to hand over the roads before May-June," said a senior governmental official who did not wish to be identified as he is not authorized to speak with media.

"The civic bodies have said that in that case the DMRC should finish all work related to the roads, including restoration, strengthening, streetscaping and beautification. June would be too late for civic agencies to start streetscaping work ahead of the Games that will be held in October 2010,"

DMRC officials, however, said that the hurry was unwarranted as they restored all roads before handing them over anyway.

“We restored all roads along the routes of Line II and III before handing them over. We can't hand over roads before we finish our work," said a Metro official, who refused to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to media.