Nod for another Connaught Place subway

Work on Chelmsford Road project begins; in all construction on five subways underway in the prime market

Three other subway plans rejected in view of traffic complications

These would be taken up in a phased manner only after the Commonwealth Games

Of the four subways in Connaught Place whose construction by the New Delhi Municipal Council as part of the redevelopment project had been temporarily put on the backburner following Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna's directions, the subway at Chelmsford Road was given the go-ahead by the Delhi Traffic Police this past week.

The plan for the remaining subways to come up at Minto Road, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg and opposite Halidrams in Outer Circle has been rejected by the traffic police for now given the anticipated traffic complications in Connaught Place. These would now be taken up in a phased manner only after the Commonwealth Games, according to the traffic police.

But given that the civic body is at present already undertaking construction of four subways in Connaught Place and each phase of subway construction takes nearly 240 days, completing all of them before the Commonwealth Games in October as planned seems unlikely.

The NDMC had begun construction work of eight subways in December last year as part of its ambitious project for re-development of Connaught Place but the ensuing traffic jams and congestion causing inconvenience to both commuters and local traders had prompted the Lieutenant-Governor's intervention in the matter.

As per his guidelines, the NDMC, the New Delhi Traders' Association and the traffic police had been directed to organise joint meetings and spot inspections to work out an amicable solution while ensuring minimal traffic disturbance.

Following their consultations with the Lieutenant-Governor, it was decided to put construction of four of the eight new subways on hold while allowing construction to continue on the rest four where digging work had already begun. The latter comprised two subways each at Barakhamba Road and Panchkuian Road connecting the Outer Circle with the Inner Circle.

Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Ajay Chaddha said: “Given the existing traffic and space constraints in Connaught Place, clearing one more subway was the maximum we could do. We had carried out trials at both Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg and Chelmsford Road but encountered traffic management problems at the former due to space constraints and increased traffic pile up at Baba Kharak Singh Marg. Therefore permission was granted by us for subway construction at Chelmsford Road only.”

An NDMC official said: “We have received the letter from the traffic police giving us permission to go ahead with the construction of subway at Chelmsford Road. So now in all we have five subways under construction and would try our best to complete them before the Games.”

Meanwhile traders in Connaught Place have expressed their reservations about the civic body taking on additional work given the tight deadline. NDTA president Atul Bharghav said: “The NDMC is already constructing four subways which are far from any stage of completion but on top of that they have now taken on work for one more subway. Instead they should have made it a priority to complete what they have in hand first before taking on more work. With manpower shortage and a tight deadline the pace of work is bound to suffer so additional construction work should have been avoided.”