Gadkari reply in Lok Sabha on traffic congestion in Delhi

Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, has outlined the projects and steps being taken to ease traffic congestion in Delhi including a series of projects expected to be completed in the next two years.

Gadkari said that the problem of increasing traffic congestion on the roads of the Capital is a complex issue involving diverse socio-economic issues, population growth, and increasing number of vehicles. MoRTH is primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs) in the country and the Delhi government is responsible for the development and maintenance of state roads, he said.

The minister’s reply said that the ministry is widening roads, upgrading and developing the arterial national highway network in and around the Delhi. The ministry has taken up road infrastructure projects in and around Delhi of more than ₹51,000 crore. These include projects such as the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the Dwarka Expressway, UER-2 (Urban Extension Road) , DND interchange, and Kalandikunj and Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), among others.

UER-2 likely to be completed by June 2025

According to the ministry, the Delhi Metro network is operational on 395 km and more than 7.1 million passengers use it everyday. “According to the study, the number of vehicles reduced from roads on daily basis for the year 2024 was 644,252,” the reply said.

Additionally, the ministry has said that the Delhi Traffic Police conducted a survey in March 2024 in which 134 location/stretches were identified with traffic congestion problems primarily due to ongoing construction works by various civic agencies, encroachment and heavy traffic. “These were shared with concerned agencies in March 2024 for taking up necessary remedial measures.,” it said. “The Delhi Traffic Police also shared lists of 128 bad conditioned/potholed roads and 97 damaged/encroached footpaths to respective civic agencies in October 2024 for necessary remedial measures,” the ministry said.