Pragati Maidan Underpass 5: Final NOC cleared for December completion

A project that had long come to symbolise delay and administrative gridlock in the heart of the Capital has finally been unlocked. The ITPO Tunnel — Underpass 5 at Pragati Maidan has now received its final and most critical clearance, with the Indian Railways granting the long-pending NOC, PWD minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said on Monday.

With this, all major technical and inter-agency hurdles that had kept the project stuck for years have now been resolved. The underpass, a key link in Delhi’s central traffic network, is now firmly back on track and will be completed by December 2026, he informed.

Speaking on the development, the minister said, “This project had been stuck for years due to pending clearances and lack of coordination. We approached it with a clear intent — to resolve issues, not to pass responsibility. I personally met the railway authorities multiple times and visited the site to ensure that every concern was addressed. With this NOC, the final hurdle has been cleared. The focus now is on execution, speed, and accountability.”

This moment marks not just a routine approval but the resolution of a prolonged infrastructure deadlock. Located at one of Delhi’s busiest and most sensitive traffic zones, the project had remained incomplete despite significant public investment, primarily due to complex engineering challenges and a lack of coordinated decision-making across agencies.

The first major breakthrough came in August 2025, when the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs approved a revised execution plan submitted by PWD. That approval addressed core technical concerns that had halted construction midway — particularly soil settlement beneath the structure and the need for design modifications near the railway embankment. Under the approved plan, critical corrective measures were identified, including stabilisation of the foundation through grouting, structural stitching beneath the railway line to ensure safety, and adoption of a revised cast-in-situ construction methodology suited to on-ground conditions.

Importantly, this solution was cleared with a clear directive that the project would be completed within existing sanctioned funds, without placing any additional burden on the exchequer.

However, even after MoHUA’s approval, the project could not move forward due to the absence of final clearance from Railways, given the proximity of the structure to active railway infrastructure. This remained the last and most crucial hurdle. That hurdle has now been crossed. The breakthrough follows sustained intervention by Parvesh Sahib Singh, who took direct ownership of the issue. Recognising both the public importance of the project and the urgency of its completion, the Minister personally engaged with the railway authorities through multiple high-level meetings and made several site visits to assess and resolve technical concerns.

This hands-on approach helped bridge coordination gaps that had persisted for years and ensured alignment between all stakeholders involved. For a long time, Underpass-5 remained a stalled project in the middle of a high-visibility zone — incomplete, underutilised, and emblematic of delayed execution. With successive clearances now in place, that phase has ended.

Underpass-5 is a vital component of Delhi’s broader infrastructure network. Once operational, it will ease congestion around Pragati Maidan and the ITO corridor, improve east-central connectivity, and ensure smoother traffic flow during major national and international events hosted at the ITPO complex.