Delhi: Ashram Chowk woes deepen after two days of rain

Heavy rain for the past two days has added to the endless cycle of chaos at Ashram Chowk in the form of deeper potholes and loose mud, adding another degree of pain that hundreds of thousands of commuters have to endure while passing through this important road intersection.

A site visit by HT on Wednesday showed how the already worn out road surface at the intersection has worsened due to rains, and the construction material dumped on the roadside has flown on to the road as slush that is making it even more difficult for the motorists to negotiate the stretch.

The Delhi government’s public works department (PWD) began constructing an underpass, aimed at decongesting the transport heavy stretch, in December 2019. HT reported on August 17 that, having missed four deadlines already, the PWD has fixed a new December-end deadline for the project. However, as construction work continued at a snail’s pace, pathetic site management has ensured that the stretch has remained a traffic nightmare for nearly two years now. Simultaneous work on extending the Ashram flyover on Ring Road has expanded the chaos from all four directions at the main intersection to Maharani Bagh.

Ashram, which connects south and central Delhi and virtually serves as the link between two NCR cities — Noida and Faridabad — sees over 350,000 vehicles passing every day during peak rush hours in the mornings and evenings.

A PWD official said they will complete the first phase of the project by the end of 2021. “We have received complaints about potholes. We used to fill those up before the monsoon, but no road repair work can be done during rains,” said a senior official.

Department officials said both the underpass and the flyover extension projects were hit by multiple setbacks in the last two years.

“Delhi has received record rainfall in the past two days. It is because of the monsoon preparations and precautions taken by the Delhi government in the past few months that the infamous Minto Bridge did not witness waterlogging to the extent of a bus getting inundated. Apart from this, it was observed there was no waterlogging in several other parts of the city as well,” said a state spokesperson.

Commuters rued that there was no end in sight to their daily travails.

“Whenever it rains, it becomes a nightmare to cross this area. PWD is not doing anything to fix it. I have often read about the deadlines of this project in newspapers, but the work is yet to be completed. What will happen if a mishap occurs due to these potholes?” asked Gagandeep Singh, who travels from central Delhi’s Gol market to Faridabad for work