Piles of building material, a couple of jhuggis and a makeshift MCD store house cover most of the area of an adjoining park. More material has been dumped in the service lane, thereby hampering the movement of traffic and creating parking problems.

As the main water lines are still being shifted, a half-km long stretch of road is lying dug up and mounds of earth denote what was once a bus stop. Shopkeepers in the area, however, say that the situation has improved. A few months ago, when the work was in full swing, they had to park their cars three km away from the shops.

Most of the residents say that they now ignore the ongoing construction. Sudhir Srivastava points out that for the past one-and-a-half years they have been living with dug-up and blocked roads, traffic diversions and jams.

``This is nothing as compared to what we have been through. It will definitely be a relief to see the construction completed. We have forgotten what normal life is like''.

Local MLA O.P. Babbar, however, feels that there is nothing wrong with the pace of work. ``The foundation stone was laid much earlier, work on the subway started only one-and-half years ago. The main water lines had to shifted. Officials had to obtain a permission for this and the supply had to be cut off for some time. All this takes time''.

MCD Executive Engineer Sanjay Jain also justifies the delay in the completion of work in the same tone.

``Work was delayed because the water lines had to be shifted. The subway will be complete in another four months''.

The contractor on the project, however, says that the subway could have been completed much earlier if the MCD had made payments on time. He says the MCD owes him Rs 25 lakh and he cannot complete the construction till he gets his money.

The MCD officials under whose supervision the subway is being constructed are Chief Engineer D.D. Nayyar, Executive Engineer Kanwal Nain, Superintending Engineer Sanjay Jain and Assistant Engineer Radhey Sham Gupta.