Authorities shelve plan to shut Golf Course Road after protest

Monday morning spelt absolute mayhem for commuters on the Golf Course Road. Long traffic jams were reported since morning as there was complete mess on almost all the roads in the DLF Phase I area, including Faridabad road.

Monday morning spelt absolute mayhem for commuters on the Golf Course Road. Long traffic jams were reported since morning as there was complete mess on almost all the roads in the DLF Phase I area, including Faridabad road.

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Due to the ongoing construction work on the Huda-DLF sector road, Golf Course Road had been shut for motorists for the next two months on Monday. But the traffic mess led to an agitation by residents who forced the authorities to drop the plan.

A 70-metre patch dug up on Sunday night caused the most inconvenience, residents said.

"It seems everything was done without any planning. The Faridabad Road and all interconnecting roads were blocked. Commuters were left stranded as they no information regarding alternatives," said RS Rathi, president, GCC (Gurgaon Citizen Council).

"All the chaos could have been avoided if the authorities had given it some thought earlier and sought technical approval in advance," he added.

On the other hand, Rohit Malik, director (estates) at DLF, said that alternative routes had been chalked out since the road is a lifeline for thousands of residents and office goers. Viable solutions were discussed with the traffic police and city administration to ease the congestion since the road connects DLF Cyber City and the MG road at the Sector 55-56 junction.

After the protest, the traffic police, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) and DLF have decided to chalk out alternatives after taking the residents into confidence.

From today, the road will be opened to motorists with proper diversion guidance, as agreed upon by Huda administrator Praveen Kumar. Traffic marshals have been deployed at the diversion for now as the authorities work on plans to improve the traffic flow in the days to come. "We will take a decision soon in public interest," said DCP (east) Maheshwar Dayal.

Drilling for an underpass near Arjun Marg, which began on Monday, led to the closure of the Golf Course Road. Six underpasses are being constructed on the 8.3 kilometre stretch.

The R600 crore project will provide a signal free ride from DLF Cyber City to the Sector 55-56 junction. The eight-lane corridor, to be constructed by June 2014, will provide reduce the current travel time of 30 minutes to seven minutes.