To aid the widening work of Sohna Road, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has asked local authorities to remove structures coming in the way, including 13 bus Q-shelters that were built recently.
The widening work is to start in November, and a survey of structures to be removed is already under way.
But the dismantling of 13 bus Q-shelters, which came up barely a year ago, has drawn flak from the residents, who called the move a waste of public money.
The shelters are located on the main carriageway between Subhash Chowk and Vatika Chowk.
Each shelter was built at a cost of Rs 2.50 lakh, and has been equipped with fancy lights, advanced route display system and benches.
NHAI held a meeting with local officials of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), MCG and HUDA last week in this regard.
All the 13 shelters are likely to be shifted a minimum of 10 metres from their existing positions.
“A survey of all structures that are falling in alignment with the Sohna Road widening and an underpass project is being carried out by the revenue staff and will be submitted to the local authority by Friday,” confirmed Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI, Gurgaon.
SK Sharma, a city-based social activist, said, “Several bus Q-shelters on Sohna Road came up just recently. Now, the GMDA will dismantle them and set them up again 5 to 10 metres behind their existing positions at a cost of Rs 30 lakh or more. Why were these shelters built on the main carriageway?”
Though GMDA buses do not ply on Sohna Road, private buses do.
GMDA plans to build 453 bus Q-shelters on 11 proposed routes in the city. As many as 200 shelters have already been built. Unfortunately, the majority of them have been wrongly built on the main carriageway.
