Sarai Kale Khan fails to deal with encroachments
Encroachments and haphazard parking have choked the approach road to Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station
Boarding a train from the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station from gate no 2 which opens to Sarai Kale Khan area is no less than a nightmare. The road starting from Ring Road to the station gate remains congested due to encroachments and witnesses slow moving traffic throughout the day caused by haphazard parking. The station caters to nearly 200 trains and 2.5 lakh passengers every day and this entrance is used by more than one lakh commuters.
If one approaches the station from Sarai Kale Khan side, one can spot encroachments by vendors and food stall owners leaving virtually no space for commuters and vehicles to move. This along with broken road dividers and illegally parked vehicles and autos affect the traffic movement.
While the two other stations in the city, New and Old Delhi have had encroachments removed, the Nizamuddin station still faces severe encroachment issues. Garbage is strewn all over the road. This causes more problems and turn the area into a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
The two lane parking which is on the side of the road only makes matters worse. The parking area which disrupts the flow of the traffic is barely 30 metres away from the entrance. When commuters approach the entrance, the cars would be on the left while there would be food shacks on their right. A haphazard arrangement of these cars and shacks leaves less than a metre in between for vehicles to pass through.
A board on the fence near the parking lot reads that the parking is government approved. The parking tickets given by the attendants have South Delhi Municipal Corporation printed on them. The person employed at the parking claims that they are running a legal enterprise. However, an SDMC official said the agency would need to check whether this parking facility is legal or not.
“We don’t know about this parking lot. We have assigned an area of 832 sqm for a four-wheeler parking and that too is only permitted in the service lane. I don’t think this parking is legal. They might be using counterfeited tickets.”
On the other hand, officials said that the area outside the station does not come under the railways. Next to the road, a vacant land designated as parking lot with an area of almost 5,000 sqm currently provides space for a government-run night shelter and delinquents. A resident of the area said, “This parking lot here is a sham. Locals have tried to remove this illegal parking in the past, but no one has succeeded in their efforts”.
Yogesh Chauhan, former president of the Nangli Razapur RWA, said that he has been fighting a battle to shut down the illegal and inconvenient parking on the main road. “The person who is running this parking area had filed a false case against me to stop me, but he is mistaken,” he alleged.