The Statesman 07.06.2013
NDMC decides to stop subway construction
Senior officials in the NDMC confirmed that after the construction of D and E block underpasses, which will be completed by month-end, there would be no approval for the projects related to subways. The council, say sources, recommended construction of foot over bridges instead of underpasses.
However, Council's Vice Chairperson Mrs Tajdar Babar said the decision needed to be approved by the council.
"Subways are dingy and prone to crimes so the council is now deciding upon the proposal of the construction of foot over bridges instead of subways," said Mrs Babar. After completion of projects in pipeline, only a foot-over bridge with escalators will be constructed, she added.
The civic agency is also working on details to construct the foot over bridges by shelving all the upcoming projects recommending the construction of the underpasses.
"The plans for automated escalators on the bridges and unique designs will be finalised in the upcoming council meetings," said a senior NDMC official.
Earlier, the NDMC chairperson, Archana Arora, in her budget address, had hinted that construction of the two subways might be stopped. She claimed that the public did not want subways. "We spoke to people and they said they did not want subways. So we dropped the project and focused on improving existing subways," Arora said.
The NDMC has completed 15 subways like INA market (Sri Aurobindo Marg), opposite Gurdwara Bangla Sahib (Ashoka Road), opposite Birla Mandir (Mandir Marg) opposite Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (Baba Kharak Singh Marg) near Regal Building(Sansad Marg) etc. Subways vary in shapes.
The recent subway completed at Janpath has 'X' shaped Entry and exist is available on all the four sides. It was built at an estimated cost of Rs. 1.5 crore.
40 trees fall in dust storm
While rain showers provided respite for the people across the city, as many as 40 trees fell in the NDMC area due to dust storm. NDMC covers sensitive and VVIP areas and venues for various national and international events and trees add grandeur to the areas. "Most of the trees fell due to heavy storm and were adjacent to the roads in south Delhi," said an NDMC official. The area under the council is 2-3 per cent of entire city but about half of this 2-3 per cent is green with the council being a repository of one lakh trees on public land. The NDMC has 1250 acres of green area.
