MCD to spend Rs 426 crore on roads in city’s industrial areas

Delhi has 13 big and small industrial areas and the roads in most of these areas have not been repaired for years.

Delhi has 13 big and small industrial areas and the roads in most of these areas have not been repaired for years. For the first time, the MCD has come up with a concrete plan and will spend Rs 426 crore on their repair.

Since these areas are not major vote banks, no MLA or councillor takes up the initiative to repair these roads. Time and again, only small repairs have been carried out by the MCD. The plan was proposed eight months ago but was delayed because of intervention by the state government. “The Delhi government wanted to make a special board for the industrial areas. But these roads are under the MCD’s jurisdiction, so we took the initiative,” MCD Standing Committee chairman Vijendar Gupta said.

The MCD is looking for companies that have a good track record for the repair work and will implement the deposit-and-dig policy, instead of dig-and-restore.

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Earlier, any agency that dug up roads to lay cables or pipes first took permission from the MCD. After completion of work, the agency would have to restore the road. In most cases, it didn’t have the resources to do so.

MCD Commissioner K S Mehra said the Corporation will now follow the deposit-and-dig policy. “Now, the MCD will take care of the restoration. We shall take restoration charges from the agency while giving the permission to dig,” Mehra said.

The MCD has started work in the Wazirpur Industrial Area, while the others are still in the pipeline. The MCD expects to complete this project by 2011.

Delhi’s industrial areas include those in Wazirpur, Okhla, Jilmil, Mangolpuri, Kirti Nagar, Moti Nagar, Udyog Vihar, Lawrence Road, Mayapuri, Badli, Narayana, and the GT Karnal Road and Rajasthan Udyog industrial areas.

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