After a wake-up call from a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court on October 3, 2007, asking why pedestrian safety in the hexagon area is not a priority for it, the NDMC filed a report in the court on Thursday. It told the Bench led by Justice Mukul Mudgal that a Rs 8,08,33,000 project to construct four subways connecting the India Gate lawns had been gathering dust since 2000.
NDMC Chief Engineer G P Sharma said NMDC was aware of the problem of pedestrians and the likelihood of accidents but the subway project had to be shelved due to various reasons — a twin trunk sewer, “other utility services”, “large number” of high tension/low tension cables passing across the C-Hexagon.
The subways were proposed at Tilak Marg, Dr Zakir Hussain Marg, Shahjahan Road and Kasturba Gandhi Marg junctions seven years ago.
“The NDMC is committed to the cause of pedestrians, yet a study has indicated that construction of subways would not be easy,” the report said referring to the minutes of an “urgent meeting” called by the chairperson a few days after the High Court order on October 3.
To this, the Bench shot back: “Do you know an elderly High Court advocate was killed crossing the road here? Is there anywhere in the world that pedestrians are ignored at the cost of fast-moving road traffic?”
Cutting short a submission by NDMC counsel Anjana Gossain seeking four more months to conduct a “detailed study” on the feasibility of subways, the Bench directed the government to come up with a blueprint of “temporary measures” like foot overbridges and escalators for pedestrians.
Quoting the report, Gossain said the NDMC was currently working on a detailed proposal — to be submitted to the DUAC, Central Vista Committee and security agencies — to consider 11 entry points in the area apart from Rajpath, without disturbing the architectural design of a Gate.
“Your report is elegant, but does not talk of any immediate measures to ameliorate the sufferings of pedestrians crossing the Hexagon thoroughfare,” the court noted.
The Bench ordered the government, represented by NDMC, DCP (Traffic), security agencies and PWD, to sit with amicus curiae Kailsah Vasdev and assisting counsel A J Bhambhani in a meeting to be held shortly and arrive at a contingency plan on pedestrian safety.