~200 cr spent, Millennium City roads still riddled with craters
Sumedha Sharma
Tribune News Service
Gurugram, August 13
Despite having spent over Rs 200 crore on road and highway infrastructure in the past one year, the Millennium City still has over 70 cratered roads and junctions, threatening thousands of lives during rains. Gurugram, which has one of the costliest and elaborate road and expressway infrastructure in Northern India, has a majority of stretches in a shambles.
At least 50 heavily cratered roads, 20 vulnerable points on the NHAI expressway and peripheral areas and around 10 cave-ins in the past one year have brought tall claims of the world-class road infrastructure in Gurugram under scanner. The majority of the impacted roads are newly built or lie in new Gurugram. Following mega flashfloods on August 11, residents have taken to social media posting pictures of these roads and “thanking” state government and authorities like NHAI and GMDA for giving them moon vibes in the city itself.
“The new Gurugram is a mess. We are living in craters. Be it peripheral roads for Dwarka Expressway, Mumbai express or the internal sector roads from Sector 80 to 95, residents risk their life each day during rains. It’s not a new issue, we point it out month after month; they just keep announcing repair allotting tenders and budget, but nothing changes on ground,” says Navdeep Singh, a Dwarka Expressway Road Safety activist.
The Gurugram traffic police have cited potholes as one of the biggest reasons behind the monsoon traffic chaos and claim to have sent repeated requests to civic authorities.
“We repeatedly bring key craters to the authorities’ notice. This monsoon Gurugram cops have filled over 100 potholes themselves,” said DCP, Traffic, Virender Vij.
According to a recent survey by a road safety committee, among the worst stretches in city are Dhankot road, Pataudi road, Madanpuri road, Jyoti Park road, Basai road, Old and New railway road, Chandu road, Pace City road, entry and exits to Dwarka Expressway, internal roads in Sector 81, 83, 92, 93, 95 and many other access roads to societies.
“Gurugram accounts for 70 per cent of the state’s revenue and has the costliest residential units in the country, but the roads are pathetic,” said Ashish Dua, Congress national secretary.
