The Delhi Government will soon look into a solution to decongest the Mehrauli-Badarpur road and explore alternative routes on forest land or construct an elevated road for the fast increasing number of vehicles accessing the area.
A high-level meeting in this regard has been called by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday. The move comes after Delhi Assembly Speaker Dr Yoganand Shastri had written to Dikshit urging her to provide a solution to decongest the road entering his constituency Mehrauli through either elevated road or bypass connectivity to give relief to the people from day to day traffic jams.
In a bid to decongest Mehrauli from traffic jams, there are two roads having length of 2.5 km (approximately) each from Mehrauli Bus Terminal to Mehrauli-Badarpur road and Idgah to Neela Huaz road where either elevated road or bypass may solve the problem of traffic congestion. Presently, there is a single lane of 35 feet to get entry into Mehrauli area. There is no alternative route for Mehrauli and it took at least one hour to one half hour from Qutab Minar to Mehrauli raod due to heavy congestion.
Dr Shastri told The Pioneer that if the project is approved, this will give relief to commuters using Mehrauli bus terminal to Mehrauli Badarpur road and Idgah to Neela Hauz road. People of Kishan Garh, lado Sarai, Mehrauli will also be benefited from this proposal.
According to officials, the proposal is at conceptual stage. The entire stretch comes under forest land and permission of forest department is needed before the conceptual stage of the project.
Besides, senior officials of Environment, Forest Department, PWD, and Speaker Dr Shastri will be present in the meeting. The congestion at this stretch is a major headache for Dr Shastri which led to traffic jams daily. “After the approval, a feasibility study to be conducted by the concerned department and it could take some time to get clearance from various departments including UTTIPEC (a body of engineering experts) and DUAC,” said officials.
Earlier, Dikshit had noted the need to end traffic congestion at a function to lay the foundation stone for renovating the Delhi Transport Corporation bus terminal in Mehrauli last month.