Fifteen years ago when civic authorities in Delhi constructed the “designer flyover” at AIIMS little did they realise that this critical junction on the Ring Road and Aurobindo Marg will be in the grip of grinding traffic snarls once again.
Blame it on the lack of farsightedness of Delhi’s urban planners, no traffic impact assessment was ever conducted before carrying out the major redevelopment work at East Kidwai Nagar.
The Delhi Police said development of the entire township in the area that includes seven colonies and the office complex will have “significant impact” on traffic flow on the Ring Road, Aurobindo Marg and Afria Avenue Road that cater to a large vehicular population in South Delhi areas.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (South District ) said, “The redevelopment sites of General Pool Residential accommodation colonies in Sarojini Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, Netaji Nagar and Mohammadpur village are situated along the Inner Ring Road and are well connected with major arterial roads ie; Ring Road, Africa Avenue, Aurobindo Marg, Brigadier Hoshiyar Singh Marg, etc, in the vicinity of AIIMS and Safdarjung hospital.”
Interestingly, the AIIMS flyover on Ring Road caters to all traffic coming from Ghaziabad, Noida going to International Gandhi Airport (IGIA). Moreover, traffic comeing from Gurugram to Delhi merges on the AIIMS flyover.
As the flyover is already loaded and acting as central bridge to NCR, it will be overburdened with vehicles from the residential-cum-office complex. South Extension, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Safdarjung Enclave and Defence Colony and many other areas will get severely affected.
“Further the introduction of fresh traffic from the upcoming projects is likely to increase the traffic congestion and increase the amount of vehicular pollution,” said the Delhi Police affidavit.
Observations filed by the Delhi Police also highlighted that the development of above noted major complexes in the vicinity of Inner Ring Road and other important corridors will have a significant impact on the traffic as Inner Ring Road, Aurobindo Mary, Africa Avenue Road are already saturated with heavy volume of traffic resulting in slow movement of traffic.
“Before the development of a big commercial project at Nauroji Nagar and General pool residential accommodation colonies in Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar and Mohammadpur village, it first requires to ensure implementation of infrastructural solution by developers, like widening of nearby connecting roads namely Inner Ring Road,” the reply field by the Delhi Police stated.
As per the report, Africa Avenue, RTR, Shanti path, Brigadier Hoshiyar Singh Marg, Vijay Raje Scindia Road will be the worst affected.
It is pertinent to mention here that on July 25, 2012, the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) categorically rejected the redevelopment project. The project was termed as “vertical slum” for the generally repetitive blocks with a height up to 150 feet in 76 towers by the commission.
Significantly, the Delhi Urban Arts Commission clearly stated that although the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) had been increased to allow this project, however, “The existing roads network does not have the capacity to hold this enhanced FAR.”