Jam at key junctions as Gurugram civic body fails to inform about road repair

On Monday morning, between 8am-10am, commuters took more than 20 to 25 minutes to cover a stretch of 1.7 kilometres, as workers, road rollers, tractors, asphalt mixers had obstructed one whole lane of the three-lane carriageway, resulting in a vehicular backlog stretching till Bakhtawar Chowk.

Repair work on Chowdhary Bakhtawar Singh Road led to heavy traffic congestion during peak hours between Bakhtawar Chowk and Rajiv Chowk, two of the most important junctions in the city, on Monday.

Repair work on Chowdhary Bakhtawar Singh Road led to heavy traffic congestion during peak hours between Bakhtawar Chowk and Rajiv Chowk, two of the most important junctions in the city, on Monday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Officials said that the work will continue till Wednesday, and advised residents to avoid the stretch until then.

On Monday morning, between 8am-10am, commuters travelling on the stretch took more than 20 to 25 minutes to cover a total distance of 1.7 kilometres, as workers, road rollers, tractors, asphalt mixers had obstructed one whole lane of the three-lane carriageway, resulting in a vehicular backlog stretching till Bakhtawar Chowk.

The congestion prompted traffic police officials to turn off traffic signals and manually direct vehicles.

The Bakhtawar Chowk-Rajiv Chowk stretch witnesses heavy volume of traffic throughout the day as it connects commuters heading from sectors 47, 49, 34, 50 and Subhash Chowk to the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

Officials of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), which is repairing the road, said that the work started on Sunday. However, there was no prior advisory issued to commuters regarding the situation of the road, despite the fact that the stretch was a busy route in the city.

“Usually government departments issue warnings a day before or a week in advance, letting commuters know about road repair works. This is the basic protocol. Usually this practice is adopted by authorities in Gurugram as well. In this instance, there might have been a communication gap between the departments concerned,” said Sarika Panda Bhatt, program coordinator for Haryana Vision Zero, a road safety project in the city.

At 12.23 pm, Gurugram traffic police officials sent out a tweet cautioning commuters to avoid the stretch. “Traffic Alert: Traffic congestion on Bhakhtawar Chowk to Medanta due to road construction work is going on. Gurugram traffic police officials are on the spot to facilitate traffic. You are requested to avoid the route. Inconvenience caused is highly regretted [sic],” Gurugram police tweeted.

GMDA officials said that the repair work will continue till Wednesday.

“The Chowdhary Bakhtawar Singh Road has not seen any repair work for the last five years and was in a terrible condition. Hence, the GMDA has initiated repair work of patches on the stretch since Sunday. Work is expected to finish by Wednesday,” said Amit Rathee, executive engineer of road infrastructure, GMDA.

Despite repeated calls and texts, Himanshu Garg, DCP (traffic), did not respond.

The road repair caught commuters unaware, causing them inconvenience.

“I was travelling for an early morning show on the Mall Mile, but was held up on CH Bakhtawar Singh Road. It made me miss out the first ten minutes of the movie. If I had prior notice of the traffic situation, I would have taken a different route,” said Anisha Sehgal, a resident of Sector 50.

Anand Rungta, a resident of Sector 47, said that the backlog forced him to alter his route at the very last minute.

“After descending from the Subhash Chowk flyover, I had to take a left turn and head towards Rajiv Chowk. However, prior to the left turn, I could see there was a heavy backlog near Bakhtwar Chowk. I accessed the GPS navigation and it showed me a 12-minute delay on CH Bakhtawar Singh Road. As a result, I had to take the arterial roads to reach MG Road instead of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway,” said Rungta.