Three years late, incomplete Bijwasan project inaugurated.

Three years past the deadline, one portion of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Bijwasan railway over-bridge and underpass project was opened on Friday as both the ruling-BJP and Opposition Congress came under public pressure to inaugurate the incomplete facility.

The railway over-bridge (ROB) was opened to traffic on a trial basis, even as the underpass portion of the project remains unfinished. While the construction, which started in 2008, lingered on, residents of the nearby Bijwasan village were forced to take a 6-km detour. Locals had protested the delay as it had divided the village, and they were forced to travel to Dwarka or to Gurgaon to cross the railway line.

Praveen Rana, the Congress councillor from Bijwasan ward, said the public had been inconvenienced for years, and since the upper carriageway was ready it was decided to open it. The oldest resident of the village, 98-year-old Chaman Singh, cut the ribbon to open the ROB.

“There is no doubt this is the worst flyover [ROB] in all of the National Capital Region. But, since the over-bridge was complete we decided not to delay its opening,” said Mr. Rana.

Mr. Rana was referring to allegations of faulty design, substandard materials and corruption that have surrounded the project for years.

“There is no provision for staircases for pedestrians to cross in the design. There is no space for drains in the underpass, which remains flooded,” said Mr. Rana.

The project had even caught the attention of the Central Vigilance Commission last year. The initial cost of the 850-metre-long project was Rs.44 crore.

“A total of Rs.132.7 crore has been spent so far, of which we have spent Rs.114 crore,” said Radhey Shyam Sharma, the chairperson of the SDMC’s Standing Committee.

He added that the expenditure on the staircases and the underpass was cleared by the Standing Committee, and would be completed in two months when a formal inauguration would be done.

“We decided that Friday being the birthday of Atalji [former Prime Minister and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee] we should open the completed portion of the ROB,” said Mr. Sharma.

The Aam Aadmi Party’s MLA from Bijwasan, Col. (retd.) Devinder Sehrawat, said the ‘opening’ on Friday was politically motivated.

“The councillors have their eyes set on the 2017 municipal polls. This project was only done to make money. Not only was it completely botched, but a flyover was not required at all. An underpass would have sufficed,” he said.

He added that inspections by structural safety experts earlier this year had found bulges at two spots on the approach ramp, and stability issues with one of the beams.

THE HINDU