GURUGRAM: The recent death of a biker after his motorcycle fell into a pit at the under-construction Ambience Mall underpass has raised concerns over the road safety measures deployed at infrastructural project sites in the city.
With several road construction and improvement projects going on in the city, major stretches like Shankar Chowk, Basai Road and Subhash Chowk, among others, have been dug up. Besides creating a traffic nightmare, especially during peak office hours, the lack of safety measures at these sites — lack of signage, poor visibility of information pertaining to construction like diversions, haphazard barricading, poor lighting around the construction area and diversions to non-motorable roads, to name a few — pose a serious safety threat to commuters.
A visit to six key construction sites by TOI revealed that while the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has attempted to step up safety measures at its sites after two tragedies, the Sohna elevated road collapse and death of a biker at the Ambience Mall underpass, project sites of the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and the public works department (PWD) have many glaring gaps in the safety net. Non-adherence to placing signage — a major requirement for road safety at construction sites — was found to be a common problem at all six sites.
The stretch between Umang Bharadwaj Chowk and Basai Chowk, where GMDA is constructing two flyovers, is a nightmare for commuters. With both sides of the road dug up and water-filled potholes flanking the stretch, the stretch witnesses massive snarls daily and also poses danger to motorists, especially those driving in the dark. According to traffic police personnel stationed there, while no major incident has been reported yet, bikes skidding or cyclists tripping on the potholes are a common sight.
The situation was even more grave at Basai Chowk. Basic road safety measures like signage, jersey barriers for traffic diversions, barricading with reflective tapes showing directions, and marshalls with baton torches that ought to have been at the site, given that the stretch is accessed by over 40,000 vehicles daily, were found missing. At night, commuting is even more risky as there are no streetlights.
Cops at the site said they have requested the contractor to put road safety measures in place. “But little has been done. It is only on us to ensure that no casualty takes place,” said a traffic police officer at Basai Chowk.
The contractor in charge of the project, Ram Kumar Contractor, however, claimed that all safety measures are in place and it is the locals who remove the barricades and jersey barriers to find a shorter route for commuting.
Similarly, at Atul Kataria Chowk, where the road has been dug up for the construction of an underpass, drivers have strayed too close to the edge in the absence of barricading to prevent slippage. Also, like most of the sites TOI visited, the contractor hasn’t placed signboards, jersey barriers or reflector tapes to help guide the traffic and avoid casualties. The project is being jointly developed by PWD and GMDA.
“Driving at this stretch is not only jarring, but also dangerous. The road has remained dug-up for years and I haven’t seen any adequate safety arrangements. Potholes are unevenly covered and barricades and signboards are missing at most places,” said Sombir, a commuter who claimed that he had slipped on the road and narrowly escaped from falling into a pit last monsoon.
The project contractor and its safety officer remained unavailable for a comment.
Meanwhile, the NHAI project sites are no different. Although there have been some improvements after two major accidents put the pressure on the highways authority to pull up their contractors, a lot is still to be done. The Sohna elevated road site is now properly barricaded with signboards. Also, marshals have been deployed with baton torches to guide the traffic at night. Near Islampur area, however, there’s a need for more barricading and signage.
“We have followed all the instructions by NHAI after the collapse in August last year. But, on the Islampur side, people create ruckus and obstruct our work. They remove the barriers so that they can park their vehicles there. We are preparing to install either iron grilles or barricades tied with chains there,” said an official of the contractor, Oriental Structures Engineering.
Safety measures at the Ambience Mall underpass site have also been stepped up as well. As NHAI is probing the lapses that could have led to death of the biker, the contractor has barricaded the entire stretch with iron barricades and jersey barriers. The barricades have also been marked with reflector tapes to caution motorists and direct them on the road diversions. Signboards, however, are still missing.
Encouragingly, Dwarka Expressway was found to be faring better than the rest in terms of deploying safety measures. Out of the six project sites visited by TOI, only Dwarka Expressway had sufficient signage and barricading, barring a few stretches, including Bajghera.
Meanwhile, NHAI has decided to observe ‘road safety month’ from January 18 to February 17. For this, all project contractors have been asked to review their safety measures and fix lapses, if any.
“All our sites are regularly inspected and directions are given to the contractor to fix the lapses. Also, we are observing road safety month from January 18 and all the project contractors have been asked to fix the lapses in their sites and also organise events and camps to promote road safety,” said an NHAI official.
Road safety experts have called for regular road safety audits to ensure accountability in case of mishaps.
“Unless the contractor is some international company, the adherence to safety guidelines is almost negligible. Even basics like signage, barricading of the entire area and traffic diversions to a motorable road are missing. For instance, the situation at Atul Kataria chowk is horrendous, with not a single safety measure in place. In the absence of road safety audits around construction sites, they escape accountability,” said city-based urban planner and road safety expert Sewa Ram.
“If there’s an audit, then we can hold people accountable. When that happens, compliance to road safety manuals, which is mandatory for construction sites to follow, will improve,” Ram added.