Wednesday 1 October 2014

PWD revives junked plan for tunnel

NEW DELHI: With specific instructions from the Centre to push infrastructural development in the capital, the public works department has revived the controversial road project which will connect Ring Road to Mathura Road.

Initially proposed in 2010, the project was shot down as it was a threat to substantial green cover and world heritage site Humayun's Tomb. This time, the road is being planned as a tunnel and officials are banking on the changes being made to the ASI Act, which provides a blanket ban on construction within 100 metres of protected sites, to see the project through.


A senior PWD official said the road is necessary to ease severe traffic congestion on Bhairon Marg and the Ashram area. The tunnel is expected to start at the exit point of Nizamuddin Bridge and open up at the Subz Burz monument on Mathura Road. It will be around 1.25 km long if constructed as a straight road. An in-principle approval was received for the project by the Delhi government and PWD is in the process of appointing a feasibility consultant to assess topography and soil type.


"A railway track runs parallel to Ring Road, making it difficult to build a road from Nizamuddin Bridge to Mathura Road. For traffic moving towards New Delhi from east Delhi, there is either a right turn at the end of Nizamuddin Bridge from where the route to Lodhi Road is via Bhairon Marg and then onto Mathura Road or a left turn which takes one either to the Barapullah elevated road or towards Ashram. Both routes are roughly 6km long. The proposed tunnel road will cut down on the time taken to reach Mathura Road and reduce congestion on adjoining routes," said Sarvagya Srivastava, chief engineer (flyovers), PWD.


Sources say the earlier project, an initiative by the Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government, was a 'depressed' road-similar to a tunnel road but not covered from the top. With the planned tunnel, officials say, trees won't have to be cut and the alignment would be made in such a way that no monument is disturbed.


However, experts pointed out the area of Sunder Nursary, Humayun's Tomb and the Nizamuddin Basti together form the buffer zone for Humayun's Tomb and there is a blanket ban on any kind of construction or digging in 100 metre of a protected monument, several of which exist in this area. This was the primary reason why the PM's office had to step in and the project was scuttled the first time.


Widespread protests had also broken out over the proposal to cut down 5,000 trees, disturbance to zoo animals and additional 12,000 vehicles every hour on Lodhi Road.


Sources claim there shouldn't be a problem in getting permission from National Monuments Authority as the BJP government is modifying several laws to encourage infrastructural development. "Committees are already in place to study existing rules. The centre is focused on improving infrastructure," a source said.



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