C'wealth Games: Crucial Barapullah Nallah elevated road inaugurated

After missing several deadlines, the crucial Barapullah Nallah elevated road, linking the Commonwealth Games Village in east Delhi with the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium was finally inaugurated today.

The four-kilometre-long corridor, the first elevated road in the city, will now be exclusively used for ferrying Games participants from the athletes' village near Akshardham temple to the main venue and vice versa.

It will be a six-seven minute-drive for the athletes and other officials staying in the Games Village to reach the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium using the elevated road which otherwise would have taken nearly 40 minutes.

Delhi PWD minister Raj Kumar Chouhan, whose department has constructed the showpiece infrastructure, flagged off 240 low floor airconditioned buses from the Saraikale Khan side of the road to the stadium. The road will be opened for general traffic after the Games.

"I am proud to dedicate the elevated road to the people of the city. After the Games, it will provide a key link between east Delhi and south Delhi," he said.

Chief minister Sheila Dikshit has already announced that the elevated road will further be extended up to INA market so that people from east Delhi and Noida can reach south Delhi without using the Ring Road.

Built at a cost of Rs550 crore on a Nullah bed, the road criss crosses the Ring Road, Railway tracks near Nizamuddin Railway station, Mathura Road and Lala Lajpat Rai Marg.

"At Mathura Road, the hight of the road has been kept 20 meters above the bed of the drain to maintain proper visibility of heritage structures near Nizamuddin," an official said.

The project has already missed several deadlines and the city government had faced criticism for the persistent delay in its completion. PWD officials blamed "unprecedented rains" for the delay.

Officials claimed the department has saved nearly Rs25 crore in project out of the allocated amount.

They said the amount could be saved due optimisation and reduction in the prices of raw material like cement and steel during last one and half years.

The actual work in the project was started in December 2008.