GURUGRAM: A project to build an underpass and a skywalk at Mahavir Chowk and widen nearby roads was proposed to decongest Old Gurugram and ease snarls on Old Delhi-Gurugram Road and the bus stand road, which meet MG Road at the Mahavir Chowk junction. However, despite allotment of tenders, the work has been paused as there are structures falling in the alignment of the project. There is a solution in sight now but that means it will be at least three more years before the project is anywhere near completion.In 2012, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram ( MCG ) suggested an underpass and a single carriageway flyover at the chowk. The proposal was approved six years later in April 2018 but was tweaked to include an underpass, a skywalk and widening of nearby roads. The project was to be built at a cost of Rs 56 crore by Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority ( GMDA ).The tender for the project was allotted on August 2, 2018. The construction was to be done in two phases and the contract was given to the buildings and roads (B&R) section of Public Works Department (PWD). In the first phase, the bus stand road, Old Delhi-Gurugram Road and MG Road were to be widened for a length of 500 metres and a 100-metre stretch between Agrasen Chowk and Mahavir Chowk was also to be widened.In the second phase, the underpass was to be built for traffic coming from the Delhi side and heading towards the old parts of the city. It was supposed to ease traffic flow near Civil Hospital, in Sadar Bazar, on the bus stand road, the railway road, Old Delhi-Gurugram Road and Delhi-Gurugram Expressway. The second phase of the project also included a 230-metre skywalk for pedestrians.However, around 42 commercial properties in Nehru Market fall on the right side of the project. These have to be removed by MCG before the roads can be widened and the underpass can be built. Over 40 years ago, these 42 establishments, which cover around 0.83 acre of the project land, were leased out. The shopkeepers concerned have sought legal intervention in the matter and a related case is now going on in the Punjab and Haryana high court . As a result, the work on the project hasn’t started more than five months after the tender was allotted.Now, MCG has decided to relocate the shops by building a nine-storey shopping complex cum multi-level parking lot near Sadar Bazar. A plot of 3,600 square yards has been identified by PWD (B&R) for the same. “Earlier this week, we sent a detailed project report to the state authorities for approval. This parking lot cum shopping complex will be ready by the end of 2020. Once it is complete, the shopkeepers can relocate to the new complex and vacate the Nehru Market establishments,” said MCG commissioner Yashpal Yadav.

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