Newsline has learnt that Delhi government received the go-ahead for the first of five contentious Games projects on January 23 — barely days before the members put in their papers on February 20.

The DUAC members had resigned to protest the Delhi government’s claim that the panel was acting as a hurdle in Games-related projects. The DUAC advises and sanctions projects in keeping with the Capital’s aesthetic and design elements.

The board’s three-year tenure was to end on March 31, but the Urban Development Ministry had already issued a circular to various government and academic institutions on February 7, seeking names for fresh nominations.

The projects that had been the bone of contention are: UP link road, corridor 56 in Anand Vihar (where new ISBT is coming up), East-West Corridor, redeveloping Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, and the tunnel road that will now become the road over Barapulla Nalla.

“We received DUAC’s official sanction for the UP link road on January 23,” a senior Delhi government official said. “We received permission for the other projects — East-West Corridor, corridor number 56 at Anand Vihar, and the road over Barapulla drain — on February 11. Some projects, such as the East-West corridor, have been passed with riders that we will look into.

“The only project not sanctioned is the one on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.”

But the official said the government is “not looking at implementing this project right now”.

Sources said DUAC has sanctioned only a part of the East-West Corridor project: the stretch from East Delhi to Outer Ring Road. “But this does not make any sense,” the government official said. “We are likely to implement the project in whole — either the Corridor is built completely or it is not built at all.”

Tunnel road hitch
But the government’s main problem remains what was to be the tunnel road. “The reason why it was conceptualised as a tunnel road was keeping in mind the area’s heritage,” the official said, “as the corridor passes by a couple of monuments. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had originally cleared the project but subsequently withdrew the clearance.

“One of the problems with building the bridge over Barapulla Nalla is that it is close to the Noida toll bridge, and one of the terms of the concessionaire agreement is that there should be no competition on this stretch.”

Officials said they would now wait for ASI’s sanction to carry out the Barapulla drain project. “But we will carry out the work as has been approved by DUAC,” the official said. “There is no time to appeal to the fresh DUAC board for approval.”