Rajya Sabha member Rajniti Prasad had raised a question on the absence of pedestrian facilities at the Gol Dak Khana roundabout. What has added to the traffic nightmare in the area is the ongoing construction on the New Delhi-IGI Airport Metro line, expected to be completed next year. Five arterial roads converge at the Gole Dak Khana, which has been declared a heritage building.

Chidambaram told the house that he had discussed the issue with Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal on Wednesday morning. “The traffic police have posted nine policemen to manually regulate traffic in that area,” he said. “There is also one policeman on motorcycle who moves around regulating the traffic. All traffic is stopped for 20 seconds every two to two-and-a-half minutes, allowing pedestrians to cross during non-peak hours. I advised the police commissioner that they should stop all traffic for at least 10 to 15 seconds every 2 to 3 minutes even in peak hours to enable the elderly, children, women and others to cross the road.”

The Central Road Research Institute will also conduct a study of the area.

Stressing that a subway will not solve the problem, he said: “If I were a pedestrian, I would not want to use a subway. Subways in Delhi are under-utilised because pedestrians don’t want to be pushed under the ground whereas traffic moves on the surface.”