Pedestrians stay away from ‘long and scary’ subways at Iffco Chowk

Pedestrians continue to stay away from the three pedestrian underpasses at Iffco Chowk, which were opened by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) last

Pedestrians continue to stay away from the three pedestrian underpasses at Iffco Chowk, which were opened by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) last year to facilitate safe movement, due to multiple reasons.

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The pedestrian underpass 1 (PUP1) facilitates the movement of people across the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, from one side to the other. The ramp of the underpass is lying in a shambles, with the tiles broken.

Similarly, PUP2 enables pedestrians to cross MG Road. This subway is interconnected with PUP3, which helps pedestrians to cross towards the side of the expressway leading to Delhi.

Inside, the PUPs are well lit but a lack of public presence and the isolation of the stretches have put off the public, say pedestrians.

Many say that walking for one kilometre in the underpasses is scary. Ritu Singh, a resident of Sector 15, said, “These underpasses are not safe at all. On most occasions, they are locked and even if they are open, the ramp leading inside the underpasses is so deserted that no one would ever enter them.”

Shyam Singh, who works at Iffco Chowk, said, “Once, I had gone entered one of the underpasses at Iffco Chowk and I was scared as there was no one inside it, except me. Also, there are no signboards inside the PUPs and one has to find their way on their own.”

Officials of the NHAI said that according to the contractor, the PUPs are well maintained. “It is clean and well maintained and lights have also been checked. Some of the lights which were not working have been replaced. The contractor has deployed 40 workers to maintain the PUPs,” an official of NHAI, Gurugram, said on condition of anonymity.

Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI Gurugram, was not available for comment.

These underpasses were conceptualised by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) in 2015. A year later, the project was handed over to the NHAI. The PUPs were initially opened for pedestrians in 2018, but miscreants had damaged the subways by stealing LED lights and electric cables. A few people also started staying inside the subways, the NHAI contractor said, adding that they had put up steel doors with locks to prevent entry.

The NHAI contractor said that last month, they had installed 127 LED lights inside the pedestrian subways, as they had been stolen.

The three PUPs at Iffco Chowk were constructed at a cost of ₹20 crore. Last year, the PUPs were opened on the request of Haryana Vision Zero (HVZ), a campaign aimed at bringing down deaths on the road.

Around 12 people died between 2016-19 at this junction, according to data compiled by HVZ, which made it imperative to improve pedestrian safety.

Ishan Gogoi, an HVZ road safety associate, said, “It was on our request in August 2019 that the pedestrian subways were opened by the NHAI. However, the subways are long and pedestrians feel unsafe while using it to cross from one side to the other.”

Road experts said that pedestrian subways at Iffco Chowk have not been constructed in a manner that will encourage people to take them.

Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture, said, “The non-motorised tracks for pedestrians have been constructed where they are not required. Pedestrians have this tendency to walk on the road. Underpasses need to be of the right length — when the subways are short or long, pedestrians won’t use it. The length of the underpasses has to be of an optimum distance. Even if the underpasses are lit, it creates loneliness and a feeling of insecurity. The underpass at Hanuman Mandir in Delhi is the best example of how a pedestrian walkway should be constructed. It is wide, people on top of the underpass can inside and there is no feeling of insecurity among pedestrians. I feel there should be some activity, such as setting up shops in the subway, so that pedestrians can feel safe.”