No exit from delayed underpass yet

GURUGRAM: Hundreds of cars drive down from the Huda City Centre side and run into a bottleneck at the junction on MG Road every evening. While a large chunk of those cars take a left turn and move towards Iffco Chowk on NH-8, numerous others turn right towards Sikanderpur and get caught in a maze of vehicles heading Delhi through MG Road.
To ease this regular traffic chaos, the authorities had planned an L-shaped underpass at this choke point for vehicles turning towards Sikanderpur.

However, the 250-metre-long underpass — being developed as part of the Rs 285-crore Iffco Chowk revamp project that also includes three unidirectional flyovers on NH-8 — has been caught in a land hurdle for months now due to a petrol pump on MG Road.

Officials said though a major portion of the underpass had been constructed, the work had been stuck at its exit point, where the petrol pump was blocking the right of way.

“Around 97% of the underpass has been completed with only a 55-metre-long ramp remaining. We are in a position to complete the entire project within a month of getting the (pump) land,” said Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI.

But it is anybody’s guess when Huda will be able to free this land. If sources are to be believed, the legal tussle over shifting of the fuel pump is likely to continue with Huda planning to move the Supreme Court, challenging a lower court’s order scrapping the allotment of an alternative plot to the pump owner.

For the uninitiated, Huda had approved an alternate plot for relocating the petrol pump to Sector 42 in February and accordingly, made changes in the zoning plan.

In the original plan, the land allotted to the fuel station was earmarked for a taxi stand. Thus, the owner of a building (Ameya One) located near the Sector-42 site filed a petition before the district and sessions court, questioning Huda’s move to change the zoning plan.

The district court stayed the change in the plan, prompting Huda to move the Punjab and Haryana high court in June. But the HC dismissed the petition and issued remand orders, asking the parties to reapply in the lower court.

However, sources claimed the Huda was planning to approach the Supreme Court directly, suggesting further delay in the pump shifting and thereby completion of the underpass.

Sukhjit Kaur, the owner of the petrol pump, said, “We are facing a lot of problems because of the delay in the allotment of an alternative plot. They (the authorities) demolished our boundary walls and most commuters think that the pump is closed. Our business has been hit with sales coming down by 50%. The authorities are deliberately delaying the process — first by offering us a disputed plot and now by taking a lot of time in filing an appeal in the case.”

Not only commuters or the petrol pump owner, even those involved in the construction of the underpass have expressed their frustration over the delay. In July, contractor Gawar Construction Limited wrote to NHAI, requesting it to excuse the agency from completing the pending work of the underpass due to the prolonged delay in removing the petrol pump from MG Road.