South Delhi’s Madangir area witnessed an unusual scene on Tuesday as hundreds of locals gathered on the road to celebrate the dismantling of the infamous BRT corridor.
Echoing the sentiments of the locals, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said while people always ask the Government to build more roads, bridges and flyovers in their localities, it must be the first time in the history of the nation that people have been pleading with the Government to scrap an existing road.
“The residents and nearly all MlAs of constituencies close to this area have been asking us to dismantle the BRT on a priority basis. Other works can be taken up later they insist,” said Sisodia. In a symbolic gesture Sisodia began the process of dismantling the Rs180-crore corridor by striking the first blow with a hammer.
He also dismissed reports that the BRT corridor was being dismantled at a cost of Rs11 crore and asserted it would cost only Rs3.15 crore.
“The first proposal that came to me gave an estimate of Rs50 crore for dismantling the project. But I rejected it. later, Rs12 crore was proposed. The final estimate came to be around Rs3.95 crore, but the actual tender for the whole work was issued at Rs3.15 crore,” Sisodia said.
The dismantling of the 6.2 km-long corridor from Ambedkar Nagar to lajpat Nagar Metro Station is supposed to be completed by March 22. It will involve removal of existing kerb stones, manufacture and placement of jersey barriers at the central verge, painting of jersey barriers, disposal of the rubble, dismantling and shifting of existing bus station shelters from the BRT and demolition of concrete platforms on which the bus shelters stood.
PWD Minister Satyendar Jain said the demolition work will be carried out only at night to ensure smooth traffic flow and least inconvenience to commuters and locals.
Jain said in a few weeks, the Government will start a campaign to free bus lanes of encroachment, which will be the Aam Aadmi Party’s method of implementing the BRT.
He said while vehicles will be allowed to ply on bus lanes, parking on those lanes will invite a penalty of Rs2,000.
The Arvind Kejriwal Government had on July 21, 2015 decided to scrap the controversial BRT for failing to serve its purpose.