Delhi govt, MCD shun city's orphan roads

Nearly 500 city roads which Delhi government has decided to take over from Muncipal Corporation of Delhi have fallen into a grey zone - and are clamouring for attention.

The MCD has given up on their maintenance and Sheila Dikshit's government won't carry out repairs as they are yet to be formally handed over.
As a result, bumpy rides continue for commuters on these unkept and unclean roads. Delhi government's chief secretary was  compelled earlier this week to write to MCD commissioner K S Mehra to hurry up the handing-over formalities for the 499 roads, adding up to a total length of 863 kilometres.

MCD and government officials will meet on Friday to speed up the formalities, said a senior Delhi government  official.
“These roads have become a no-man land and await restoration work which MCD has stopped. We want to resolve this issue with the MCD at the earliest and begin work on them,” the official said,Confirming the current dismal condition of these `orphaned' roads, an MCD official told Deccan Herald that the Corporation is not using its funds anymore for their repair or maintenance.
“These roads will be taken away from us anyway. Delhi government is making the Corporation defunct. Now that it wants to, let it maintain these roads. Why should we spend our funds on them?,” said the official.

No fresh tenders are being invited for the repair or restoration of these roads and even the ones that were already issued have been cancelled, he added.

The Delhi cabinet had cleared a proposal on December 8 to acquire these roads, all of them 60 feet or over in width. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had justified the decision, saying the Corporation has failed in its duty to maintain these roads.

Even Delhi Traffic Police is known to have complained about the poor maintenance of some of the roads, leading to frequent accidents and traffic jams.

The roads include Rani Jhansi Road, Qutab road, Chelmsford Road, Desh Bandhu Gupta Road, Pusa Road, Old Rohtak Road, Gurdwara Road, University Marg, Timarpur Road, Lucknow Road, Roshanara Road, Bunglow Road, Savitri Cinema Road, Mehrauli-Badarpur Road, Bhisham Pitahmah Marg, Lodhi Road, Patparganj Road, Vikas Marg to NH 24 and IP Extension Marg.