Rani Jhansi Grade separator — the ambitious flyover project of North Delhi Municipal Corporation — is all set to miss the deadline yet again. Engineers and officials involved in this project said the heavy traffic at Azad market is preventing the progress of this project which may well go into the next year. Earlier, Mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation Preety Aggarwal had announced the flyover to be opened for traffic as a Diwali gift. Despite tall claims of the Mayor, the project has beed delayed, resulting into further cost escalation.

Officials of engineering department said they cannot use heavy cranes to lift  45-tonne segments over flyover to connect the pillars. “The department can work only for three to four hours and that too becomes difficult due to the continuous movement of heavy vehicles during the night. Almost 78 per cent of the project has been completed and the remaining part is expected to be completed in January 2018,” they said.

The project has set an extraordinary example of years of delay due to the multiple agencies responsible for removing roadblocks. The continuous deadline breach has escalated the project cost by Rs 547 crore more than the originally sanctioned one. The cost originally was decided Rs 177 crore that further increase to Rs 724 crore.

Additional Commissioner SK Bhandari (Engineering) told The Pioneer, “We have put all the necessary efforts to complete the project on time. We have completed 78 per cent of the work and most of the work has been done this year after all the hurdles were removed by different agencies.”

Bhandari said massive traffic at Azad market has been a major impediment as it prevents engineers from working during day time. It is even difficult to pursue it till 12 or 1 am. “The heavy cranes movement to lift the slabs over the flyover, requires space but that is not available. Similarly, it is also difficult to send materials on site in a day due to traffic,” he said.

The project was conceived in 1998 but was commissioned by the erstwhile municipal Corporation in 2006. The construction work started in 2007 and has been in the pipeline since then. The agencies, responsible for removing bottlenecks, have indulged in passing the buck for years and the story still continues, leading to the delay in project for eight years.

leader of the Opposition in North Corporation Rakesh Kumar accused the BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation for the delay and said not even a single promise, made by the BJP-led corporation has been fulfilled. Alleging that the Mayor is in habit of being in news instead of doing something on the ground to ensure the development, he said all promises made by the party have proved to be a futile exercise.

The 1.6-km-long flyover from near St Stephen’s Hospital to Filmistaan Cinema once completed would be opened for vehicular movement towards ISBT, Kashmiri Gate, and Mori Gate etc to the citizens particularly of Shakti Nagar, Karol Bagh, Gulabi Bagh, Kamla Nagar, Sadar Bazar, Paharganj, Azad Market and surrounding areas.

The BJP which has won the polls for the third time in a row is ruling the corporation for over ten years now and yet several deadlines have been missed. The original deadline which was 2010 before the Commonwealth Games, was not met. And after another seven years, the story remains the same.