In a move to decongest Mahipalpur and Kashmere Gate, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA), on Monday decided to construct an underpass at Mahipalpur road on National Highway-8 to Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and a loop at Kashmere Gate to smooth traffic movement.
Earlier, Delhi Government was suppose to construct these two projects now the HUA Ministry will take up these projects. This was decided at a High level Meeting of Union HUA Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday.
Sources said that the underpass will start from Vasant Kunj Sector C and connect the Urban Extension Road 2, passing under the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway — which runs parallel to the airport's boundary wall and connects to Dwarka. This pass will be 3.2 km long. The underpass will help commuters avoid taking the congested Mahipalpur road to go to Dwarka. The Centre will construct this underpass. Similarly, the Centre has also decided to construct a loop of the central verge on the carriageway leading from Salimgarh Fort to ISBT by-pass and shifting the location of the right arm of the subway towards Nigam Bodh Ghat. Shifting the tail of the Shahdara flyover loop towards the ISBT complex and relocation of entry point of ISBT on Boulevard Road would improve traffic situation.
The meeting was called to find out a solution of growing traffic congestion and delay in metro phase IV projects in the national Capital. The issue of land management by DDA, regularisation of unauthorised colonies and resource constraints of MCDs were raised in the meeting. The meeting was attended by Delhi MPs, lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, three Mayors of MCDs, Commissioners of MCDs and officials of Delhi Development Authority and Urban Development.
During the one and a half hour long meeting, implementation of the land Pooling Policy, land management by DDA, issues relating to unauthorised colonies, resource constraints of MCDs were raised.
Sources said that Puri told in the meeting that regular interaction on issues pertaining to Delhi would help in addressing various bottlenecks and DDA and MCDs need to take necessary action on various issues raised in the review meetings for visible improvement.
At the meeting, MPs have suggested to the Ministry and the DDA to examine if the same share of developed land could be given to land owners irrespective of the size of the land pooled under the land Pooling Policy. This policy proposed to give 60 percent of developed land back to owners if the pooled land is above 20 hectares and 48 percent if it is between 2 and 20 hectares. MPs and Mayors stressed the need for more Foot Over Bridges in different parts of Delhi and the need to ensure that Delhi Metro services are available to the people of rural areas.