The traffic moves in a continuous stream negotiating the terrain, stones, electricity poles and even a huge open drain, which has already earned a reputation of causing several accidents.

“The dust that the moving vehicles raise has almost become a part of our lives. It has been over five years and we have been running to officials to construct this road. But, leave apart constructing the road, all the MCD could do is further narrow it down by constructing a six-feet wide drain that nobody uses,” said Suresh Kumar, a local businessman.

“And now, the reason we are being given for the delay in the construction of the road is that the MCD cannot find a place to install its RMC mix plant,” Kumar said.

Local said not all seemed bleak till a few months back when stones and other construction material were brought here. But once the results of the municipal elections were out, the construction stopped.

“When all seemed lost, we resorted to filing an RTI. We suspect that funds taken for the construction of this road may have never been utilised,” said Sursh Kumar, who filed an RTI application last year.

And the MCD, though hesitantly, gave information that was quite welcome, residents said. In a letter dated July 31, 2007, the MCD assistant engineer said, “It was only a matter of finding a suitable site for setting up a RMC mix plant, where concrete could be mixed.”

The MCD assured that the drain would be repaired withing 15 days in the reply. Almost half a year after, things have not changed, not even the alibi.

“Patients often ask me to advise them on phone as they don't want to take this road," said Dr Daulat Singh, whose nursing home is situated in the middle of the stretch.

“And then, week after week, I keep receiving patients injured in accidents on the stretch,” he said.

“It is a joke here that if you suffer from indigestion you should travel on this road. And others say that if you X-Ray any of the residents along this road, all you would find is sand raised by the traffic,” said Sukhbir Singh, a resident.