Ghaziabad municipal commissioner Vikaramadiya Singh Malik has pulled up contractors working under the Chief Minister Green Road Infrastructure Development Urban (CM-GRID) scheme over slow progress on road projects in the city. During a review on Thursday, Singh expressed dissatisfaction, particularly with the Indirapuram township, where only 5% physical progress has been achieved. He warned that penalties would be imposed if work does not accelerate.
Commissioner's Directive
“We have a March 2027 deadline to complete this work, but work has been going on at a very slow pace. I have instructed contractors to speed up work or else a penalty will be imposed on them. Since the road stretches are dug up all over, care must be taken to ensure that it does not cause public inconvenience,” the municipal commissioner stated.
Indirapuram's Plight
In Indirapuram, a 10-kilometer stretch is under various stages of construction, but physical progress has stalled at a mere 5%. Mounds of dirt and loose sand excavated from sites have transformed the locality into a dust bowl, leading to severe inconvenience for residents. The once-green area has lost its vegetation, and dust pollution has replaced the idyllic spots where children played and elderly residents walked.
Residents express frustration over the perpetual state of disrepair. “Some work, either road repair or drain work, is always going on in Indirapuram at any given point in time. If it is Kala Patthar Road one day, it will be Suceta Kruplani Road another day and another stretch the next day. The problem is this seems like eternity,” said Ayush Mishra, a resident of Gaur Green City. He added, “There is a serious lack of planning on the part of agencies and departments. Without factoring in the problems it will cause, they just start the work, which misses deadline after deadline while residents suffer.”
Health Concerns
The surge in dust pollution has raised health alarms, especially for those with pre-existing conditions. Frequent coughing and breathing difficulties have become commonplace. Swati Choudhary, a resident of Supertech society, shared her ordeal: “My son is asthmatic and the road just outside our society has been dug up since winter. They are carrying out drain work and one half of the road is unusable. But the season has changed and it is so dry and one bike is enough to trigger a dust bowl on the stretch and every time my son goes to the playground on the other side of the road, he is wheezing.”
Sanjeev Sinha, a yoga instructor who conducted classes at a park in Patrakar Vihar Society, noted, “Even in the morning there is a high level of dust concentration in the air. Deep breathing leads to mass coughing among my students. So I shifted my classes indoors.”
Commuters' Ordeal
Commuters have been enduring these harsh conditions daily for months. Raj Shekhar, a resident of Arihant Harmony, described the experience: “Take a test. Close your eyes while commuting in a cab and as soon as you enter Indirapuram, you get the cacophony of blaring horns, bumpy roads due to uneven and dug-up roads and, of course, dust pollution. Your other sensory organs will tell you you have entered Indirapuram. Such is the condition. Cab drivers won’t come to your society and they will drop you far away from your home. You have to walk down no matter whether it is day or night.”
He further lamented, “They say in NCR the pollution cuts your life expectancy by 11 years and I bet if we were to do a study of Ghaziabad and Indirapuram alone it would be much more than 15 years. We bought flats worth crores here for what?”
Project Overview and Slow Progress
Currently, road stretches totaling 20 kilometers are under repair in Indirapuram and other parts of the city under the CM-GRID scheme. The project has an estimated budget of Rs 300 crore, of which Rs 223 crore has already been sanctioned. Despite this, work on the ground remains sluggish.
Specific Stretches
A 4-kilometer stretch on Saheed Capt Manoj Pandey Marg (Kanawani Puliya) to NH9, from Suceta Kruplani Road and from Kala Patthar Road to Kaveri Marg, has seen only 1% progress. The 1.8-kilometer stretch from Kala Patthar Road to Saheed Capt Manoj Pandey Marg via Sushila Nayar Marg has fared slightly better with 8% progress.
Another 1.13-kilometer stretch from Sushila Nayar Marg to Kala Patthar via North India Mall road has seen negligible progress at 0.26%. Similarly, a 1.83-kilometer stretch from Kala Patthar Road to Saheed Capt Manoj Pandey Marg via Kasturba stands at only 0.25%.
Indirapuram is not alone. In other parts of Ghaziabad, progress is equally slow. The stretch from Dabur Chowk to Kaushambi Bus Stand via EDM Mall to Charan Singh Road, and from Vaishali Sector 4 to Harsh Vardhan Marg via Dharam Marg, has also seen less than 1% progress.
Official Explanation
A GMC official attributed the delays to the nature of the work: “That is the nature of the work. For concrete slabbing, you need time for it to settle, and then there is a set process before we undertake work, like survey, tendering, grant of work order, and the commencement of actual work, and this takes time.”
Impact on Businesses
A kiosk owner on Mangal Pandey Road reported that road work has severely affected businesses and vendors. “The stretch has been barricaded, which reads ‘Caution-Chief Minister Green Road Infrastructure Development Urban Scheme.’ Hardly any customers visit my shop these days because of road conditions. I tried shifting elsewhere but my competitors would not allow me to do so. It is affecting my business,” the vendor said.
