Vasant Kunj residents ask L-G to clear mess

Residents of Vasant Kunj, where the widening of a road has created a controversy because of environmental and civic issues, have planned to meet Delhi’s lieutenant-governor to find out a way to address their concerns.

Residents of Vasant Kunj, where the widening of a road has created a controversy because of environmental and civic issues, have planned to meet Delhi’s lieutenant-governor to find out a way to address their concerns.

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Of the 37 resident welfare associations (RWAs), about 20 of them, besides various citizen groups, have shot off separate letters to Tejendra Khanna, the lieutenant governor, seeking his intervention. The federation of Vasant Kunj RWAs on Saturday

sent one such letter.

The residents hope to meet Khanna on March 23. Hindustan Times recently published a three-part series on problems arising from the widening of a 3.5-km stretch from Andheria Mod towards Mahipalpur in a most unplanned and non-transparent manner, felling trees and demolishing colony boundaries.

The series also offered solutions.

AK Mehta, ex-chairman, federation of Vasant Kunj RWAs, said, “We want the project to be completed as soon as possible. But boundary walls and colony gates should not be disturbed much. Repairs should be done by the public works department, which is doing the widening.”

“We want three foot-over bridges with escalators, removal of red lights with provisions for U-turns, three meters of green belts on either side of the road, plantation of trees on both sides of the two service lanes and the footpath, besides placement of street furniture and adequate lighting,” he said. “Crossing the road is already difficult and after widening, it shall become more difficult. We need safeguards,” he said.

A group of residents asks why an alternative route behind Sectors D-1 and D-2 that could join National Highway 8 is not being developed as the connecting road. They say the stretch is being widened to accommodate to and fro traffic between Gurgaon and the Outer Ring Road and also traffic going to the airport.

According to the plan, the newly widened road will not run through Mahipalpur but take a detour to avoid it.

“Why is it that residential areas like Vasant Kunj are not similarly avoided? A detour road needs to be planned for Vasant Kunj so that traffic goes behind Sectors D1-D6 to meet Nelson Mandela Marg and the airport road, rather than going through the thickly populated Vasant Kunj,” said a resident.