News: Work on Bajghera road stuck due to rains, potholes & dust add to commuters’ woes-01-08-2021
Gurgaon: The opening of a much-awaited flyover on Bajghera road in January last year and its widening by the public works department (PWD) in October has given little respite to commuters travelling from Gurgaon to Delhi using the stretch.
This is because the four-lane road in Sector 110A abruptly ends just 500m before the Dwarka Expressway, and the unmetalled approach road linking the stretch to the expressway is riddled with potholes and dust, making commuting a nightmare. Moreover, it is inundated during the monsoon, adding to commuters’ woes.
Residents said the widening of the road is meaningless as long as the approach road continues to remain in such a deplorable state. “Manoeuvring vehicles on this small stretch is tough. The situation is worse when it rains. I’ve slipped on the road several times and even fractured my leg once,” said Manoj Singh, a resident of sector 110.
PWD completed the widening of Bajghera road after a delay of over four months last year. The 3.5km village road was converted into a four-lane sector road, but the 500m approach road that connects Sector 110A with the Dwarka Expressway was left unattended. It was to be developed by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is constructing an underpass on the same stretch to connect Sector 110A with Sector 113.
As part of the Dwarka Expressway, NHAI had proposed to build an underpass and black-top the stretch. Work, however, was stopped midway as it is struggling with traffic management and rainwater accumulation on the stretch. The initial deadline for the underpass was June 2021.
“The work on the box structure of the underpass was underway but had to be slowed down due to the monsoon. It requires heavy excavation work and it is impossible to do that during monsoons. Once the rains are over, we’ll speed up the work and try and complete it by December this year,” a senior NHAI official told TOI.
The revamp for the approach road, however, may get stuck in the absence of adequate right of way (ROW) for the commuters. Insufficient space is available on either side of the underpass to divert traffic and black-top the stretch, NHAI said.
“When we had gotten the land from the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to construct the approach road, we were told that there’s enough ROW. But, we later found the ROW is inadequate and we are facing difficulties in diverting traffic,” the official said.
The NHAI contractor for the project, L&T, said they have urged GMDA to look into the matter and suggest possible ways of developing the stretch without causing much traffic disruption.
“The last resort would be to take one side at a time, block traffic on that side for a brief period and divert it to the other side. The issue is that there isn’t enough space on both sides to make an alternate route for traffic. We’ll wait for NHAI and GMDA to take the call,” said an L&T official.
When asked, a GMDA official said NHAI had raised the issue in a couple of meetings held earlier this year and that they are “comprehensively looking into the points raised by NHAI”.
