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Subways in CP far from complete
Meant to provide convenience to pedestrians, subways in Connaught Place are proving to be a nightmare, with work on eight subways in the outer circle moving at snail’s pace. Neelam Pandey reports.
Meant to provide convenience to pedestrians, subways in Connaught Place are proving to be a nightmare, with work on eight subways in the outer circle moving at snail’s pace.
Though the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) had promised to make at least four new subways ready by October 2010, most of them are still dug up and barricaded.
The five existing ones at KG Marg, Sansad Marg, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Super Bazar and Janpath have been made functional even though work on them has not been finished.
Even the Barakhamba Road subway, where maximum work has been done, will be complete only by June 2013. But to finish it, traffic movement at the busy stretch will have to be restricted.
“We don’t want to disturb New Year’s celebrations, so we will start work only by January,” said a senior NDMC official. Officials, however, cannot guarantee whether they will be able to finish the rest even within next year.
Two subways at Panchkuyian Road also hang on the balance as traders in CP have asked civic agency not to go ahead with construction work there. For now, both sites are in a mess.
“They have a habit of starting more work than they can handle. We have asked the civic agency to carry out phase-wise construction to ensure that the rest of the area is not affected. These subways were not required, and their construction will only waste money,” said Atul Bhargava, president of New Delhi Trader’s Association.
