Govt takes ITO flyover project back to DUAC

Tuesday, June 9, 2009
source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Delhi government's attempts to revive the ITO flyover project have once again given rise to a war of words between the government and the Delhi Urban Arts Commission. On Monday finance minister A K Walia who is very keen on the flyover as it would directly benefit his constituency in East Delhi held a meeting with DUAC and PWD officials and urged the commission to re-think its verdict on the flyover.

"The flyover was a part of the Master Plan and was originally supposed to be made by MCD but because the civic agency never moved on the plan, it was handed over to PWD. It had all the approvals including that of the DDA technical committee and its construction will bring an end to the chaos on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. We have explained all these things to DUAC and will further apprise them about the ground situation,'' Walia told Times City.

DUAC, according to senior officials, is sticking to the arguments it had originally given while rejecting the proposal. "They have a conceptual problem with the flyover because their contention is that a city cannot have flyovers at all intersections. Moreover it is a convention that flyovers are usually away from the city centre. They are not willing to pass the ITO flyover,'' said an official.

The fact that there is another sore point at the same intersection the East West corridor which has only been partially cleared by DUAC is further complicating the fate of the flyover, which apart from providing a signal-free ride on BSZ Marg is also expected to solve the parking problems of the offices there.

State PWD minister Rajkumar Chauhan had earlier said that if need be the state government is willing to bypass DUAC objections like it did for the Ring Road Bypass by directly approaching the lieutenant governor but the project has been stalled for so long that it is unlikely to be in place before the Commonwealth Games.