NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Saturday questioned the painting of footpaths and road dividers in orange and green in the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area even as the BJP MP from New Delhi Meenakashi Lekhi earlier called it a safety hazard.

In a letter to Delhi LG, Singh wanted to know the reason behind NDMC’s move to change the colour of pavements and road dividers in green and orange colours instead of usual colour of black and yellow or alternate band of white and black as recommended by Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

“Is it a coincidence that orange and green are the flag colours of BJP,” said Singh.

However, the issue was first raised by Lekhi, who slammed NDMC’s decision to repaint kerbs, traffic dividers and roundabouts, saying the move was a safety hazard and lacked logic.

In her blog, Lekhi, who is also member of the Council, said, “The intention behind this move may have been harmless, but, research shows that use of these colours can prove to be unsafe.”

She added, “NDMC tested these colours on Vinay Marg for a year and recorded that there was no objection to the change of colours. In my understanding, ‘no objection’ should not have been simply deduced as the colours being safe. As a regular commuter myself -with every turn- I have observed that the yellow & black combinations have higher contrast and visibility than the chosen colours of red & green, particularly at night.”

The BJP MP had spoken to road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari on the issue and hopedto get it sorted soon.

“We cannot afford to make errors in judgment such as the use of aesthetic colours as opposed to road-safe colours and further, any move should be taken with due technical and scientific temper,” she wrote.