Admn dumps underpass project

Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 22

While it took only two years for the UT Administration to approve and allot work of the Tribune flyover project, it has dumped an underpass project approved almost 20 years ago.The planning of underpasses at various intersections began in 2000 with an aim to reduce traffic congestion, but it never moved beyond files since then.

The then Finance Secretary and Chief Engineer had made a trip to Belgium in 2005 to study underpasses there so that the model could be replicated in Chandigarh. A report was submitted but nothing happened on the ground. From the Administration to the Municipal Corporation, the planning of the project kept shifting, but not a single underpass was constructed. The task was entrusted to the CHB in 2007, but the project got delayed due to a financial crunch.

The CHB appointed New Delhi-based Consulting Engineers India Pvt Ltd as consultants to submit a report on the project — from the concept to the completion of underpasses. Work related to the traffic survey, digital topography survey, geo-technical survey and utility mapping related to the sites of underground services was completed by the CHB in 2009.

However, no headway was made due to a paucity of funds. When the CHB failed to complete the project, the then Administrator gave the responsibility to the MC, which also failed to make any headway in the project. The MC formed a committee, headed by Pradeep Chhabra, a former Mayor, to submit a report.

Chhabra said the committee had recommended that underpasses be made at busy spots on the stretch from the Sector 18 Press light point to Hotel JW Marriot in Sector 35. However, the report was not implemented.

Now, the MC does not have the money to carry out such projects. Besides the underpasses, the Administration also dumped the Metro project after spending crores of rupees on preparing a detailed project report.

Chhabra said there was need to revive the underpass project. He said he had also raised the demand during the last Advisory Council meeting. The Metro project planning began in 2006 and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation prepared a detailed project report for the project in 2012, but it was dumped in 2018.