india

Updated: Jul 23, 2019 07:47 IST

Following multiple complaints from residents about the potholed sector road between Rezangla Chowk and Chauma Railway Crossing in Palam Vihar, deputy commissioner Amit Khatri, who is also the civic body chief, on Monday, said he has assigned the task to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG).

“I have asked the MCG’s engineering department to expedite the process,” Khatri said.

Residents said the development was reassuring as it came after two years of the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) passing the buck.

On Monday, too, GMDA chief engineer Jitender Mittal said “this road has not been transferred to GMDA till date”, while HSVP administrator Chander Shekhar Khare said, “ We have transferred all major roads to GMDA”.

According to residents, this 30-metre-wide road divides Sectors 1 and 2 in Palam Vihar, and has not been re-carpeted in 10 years. Deep potholes dot this 1-km-long stretch, which is used by residents of Palam Vihar, New Palam Vihar and newer sectors. It is also widely used by commuters travelling from Delhi to Gurugram. Three-wheelers constitute a large chunk of the daily vehicular traffic.

“This is a sector road and earlier came under the jurisdiction of the HSVP. It should have been transferred to the GMDA. In the 10 years before GMDA was formed, the HSVP never re-carpeted it and in the past two years, both these agencies kept shifting responsibility. A week ago, we finally wrote to the district administration,” Palam Vihar resident Sunil Yadav said.

Team HT, on Monday, found at least three stretches where the road was completely broken.

The first bad patch starts within 50 metres from Rezangla Chowk towards Chauma Railway Crossing. The 50-metre stretch is riddled with multiple potholes that are 6-9 inches deep.

On the stretch near the Railway line, a 350-metre stretch has at least 10 potholes, each almost as wide as the road and about a foot deep. In the last 150 metres of the stretch, the bituminous road has given way to mud. In rains, this stretch becomes completely waterlogged and is especially dangerous for two-wheelers, light vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.