The Hindu : New Delhi News : East Delhi to be the gainer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

East Delhi to be the gainer

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 29. With the Commonwealth Games Village due to come up on the banks of the Yamuna, East Delhi is likely to emerge as the biggest beneficiary of the development plans for Delhi till 2010 with the Delhi Development Authority today announcing that it would soon be constructing the ITO chungi underpass with four clover leaves and the three remaining clover leaves of the Akshardham Setu flyover thereby providing free flow of traffic on both the intersections near the village complex.

Announcing the plan, the Member (Engineering) of DDA, Prabhash Singh, said while the Delhi Government has identified 19 new flyover projects for the Capital, DDA has also been entrusted the task of constructing two while the finalisation of agencies for the remaining is being done.

Noting that the ITO chungi project will see the underpass coming on the Marginal Bund Road, he said the project will get underway in about nine months and would take two years to complete. And the three clover leaves on Noida Mor have been planned to make this intersection signal free as well and work on them will start in the next six months.

Simultaneously, it was informed that the Public Works Department has prepared a detailed report on having an underpass from National Highway-24-Ring Road crossing up to the Subz Burj roundabout which would lead up to Lodhi Road. However, as the project runs close to Humayun's Tomb, the clearance of the Archaeological Survey of India will also have to be sought.

Meanwhile, the Member (Finance) of DDA, A.K. Patnaik, said the Authority would also take up construction of the Games Village near Akshardham Temple, creation of badminton and squash facilities at Siri Fort and of a rugby stadium and boxing and wrestling facilities at Yamuna Sports Complex in East Delhi.

Pointing out that senior DDA officials, led by Vice-Chairman, Madhukar Gupta, had visited Australia and Malaysia to see the arrangements for the Games there, Mr Patnaik said efforts would be made to ensure that there is no duplication of work, the stadiums are integrated and the appraisals of venues takes place properly. He said it was customary for the Event Knowledge Services team of the Commonwealth Games to visit the venues and suggest measures for improvement. "We are awaiting the visit of the team'' and would come out with a design competition after getting the inputs from it.

Recalling how DDA has constructed all the facilities for Asian Games 1982 within just two years, Mr Patnaik denied that the Authority was behind schedule and said it was confident of doing the job as still there was a lot of time left. "We are just waiting for the policy directions from the Government of India,'' he said, adding that work on the design has begun and the ball has been set rolling.

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