NMC starts clearing Hurdles
The long-pending works on Rani Jhansi Road grade separator can finally take off now with the authorities on Wednesday beginning the relocation of people from areas like tyre market, Azad Market and Modal Basti. The delay in acquisition of this land was the biggest hurdle in completion of the project. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC)with assistance from the local police began the acquisition process by relocating people from these areas to places like Idgah and Jakhira where some land was identified for the purpose. A senior official of the NMC said the civic body had already paid Rs 70 crore to the land acquisition department of the Delhi Government and now the project is set to re-start.
For construction of grade separator on Rani Jhansi Road, several property owners in the tyre market and on railway and DUSIB land were affected. Now, the MCD tyre market has been shifted to Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar and the Railways has been offered land on Bhavbhuti Marg. The land in Azad Market and Model Basti could not be acquired till now as the private owners had demanded rehabilitation and not compensation. On Wednesday, several affected persons complained that they have not been given due compensation for their land.
Presenting the Budget for the year 2014-15, Standing Committee Chairman Mohan Bhardwaj had said only 45 per cent of the work has been completed so far even as the grade separator was conceived as a Commonwealth Games project. He said the foot-over bridge connecting the grade separator to the adjacent market is almost complete. The project was started in 2008 and was supposed to be complete before the CWG. While the original cost of the project was estimated to be Rs 177 crore, it has over the years escalated to over Rs 260 crore.
The 1.6-km-long four-lane grade separator is to be constructed from Tis Hazari courts to Filmistan cinema. The project aims to de-congest and ease traffic congestion on Rani Jhansi Road, Bara Hindu Rao, DCM Chowk, Azad Market and Baraf Khana Chowk to reach St Stephen’s Hospital, Subzi Mandi chowk and Azad Market Chowk. This would benefit trans-Yamuna commuters by decongesting jam-prone areas around these two places. While one arm of the grade separator comprising two lanes would open out to Bara Hindu Rao Hospital the other arm again comprising two lanes would open out to Barfkhana Chowk.