Even as pedestrians continue to give a miss to most of the foot over-bridges (FOB) across the city, the Delhi Government has cleared five new FOB projects across arterial roads in South and West Delhi. The Public Works Department (PWD) is already working on 15 FOBs, with the deadline of completing them by March 2015.
PWD officials said the tendering process of the newly-sanctioned FOB action have already been initiated and work for all the FOBs would be completed within the stipulated time period.
Several FOBs were built all over the city at the time of Commonwealth Games as well though opinion is divided on whether pedestrians are opting for them or looking for other ways of crossing roads, at times at the risk of their safety.
“Commissioning of these FOBs will help reduce traffic congestion in the city. FOBs also ensure pedestrians safety and overcome incidents of accidents on roads. They prove to be helpful to the aged too,” said PWD Principal Secretary Arun Baroka.
Apart from constructing new FOBs, the PWD has also decided to shift some of the existing ones to different locations. “At certain places like Mangolpuri on the Outer Ring Road, Rajouri Garden on Ring Road and Satya Niketan on the Ring Road, the existing FOBs will be shifted to new locations as per requirement,” an official said.
The five new FOBs that have recently been sanctioned include one each near Saket metro station; near Lokesh Cinema; on Najafgarh Road adjoining Janakpuri (West) metro station; at Swaran Park, Mundka, and one near Carriappa Marg Station Road, RR Lines. The five projects would incur a cost around Rs.14 crore, officials said.
