In a relief to commuters passing through the busy Ashram crossing in South Delhi, the Public Works Department (PWD) will open a 750 metre long underpass on March 22.

“The construction work of the ongoing underpass at Ashram Chowk is now in its final stage and will be completed within 15 days. This underpass will be opened for the public from March 22,” the Office of the Deputy Chief Minister said in a statement.

On Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the PWD portfolio, and senior department officials inspected the construction work of the underpass. Along with this, he also reviewed the construction works of the Ashram flyover and the underpass being built near Pragati Maidan.

Sisodia said that last year the construction work of the Ashram underpass had to be stopped several times due to the Covid-induced lockdown.

This has delayed the completion of the underpass but now the construction work has resumed and is in its final stage.

The Deputy Chief  Minister said that this underpass would be opened for traffic from March 22 which will benefit lakhs of people daily.

Sisodia also reviewed the construction works of Ashram flyover and the underpass between Pragati Maidan to Nizamuddin and directed the concerned officials to complete the construction works expeditiously so that people can use these roads at the earliest.

“Lakhs of people use these routes to commute daily to ITO, Ring Road, Central Secretariat, India Gate, and Central Delhi,” he said.

Sisodia informed that the construction work of Ashram flyover will be completed by August and the Pragati Maidan underpass being built in collaboration with Delhi Government and Central Government will be completed by the month of May.

Ashram Chowk is an important link between Central and South Delhi and also with Faridabad. The junction connects the Mathura Road and the Ring Road (linking Lajpat Nagar-Sarai Kale Khan and the DND flyover).

Once the project is completed, it would benefit the commuters passing through the busy Ashram crossing and ease the ride towards Sarita Vihar, Badarpur and Faridabad from ITO.

According to data provided by the traffic police, around 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh vehicles cross the Ashram intersection every day during peak traffic hours.

To ease the traffic logjam at the crossing, a 750-metre-long underpass is being built on the Mathura Road, between the Nizamuddin rail bridge and the CSIR Apartments.

The foundation stone of the underpass was laid by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on December 24, 2019 and it was to be completed in a year’s time.

PWD officials said the deadline was first extended to March 2021, further pushed to June 30, 2021 and then to September 2021. It was again extended to December 2020 and then to March 2022.