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A week after the Delhi High Court directed the government to revert to the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system with lanes reserved for buses on the 5.8-km Moolchand-Ambedkar Nagar stretch, a presentation on the Karawal Nagar-Shastri Nagar-Mori Gate BRT was made before Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday.
Transport Commissioner R Chandramohan said the proposal had been given ‘in-principle’ approval and a detailed project report (DPR) would be sent to the Transport department.
“A presentation on the Karawal Nagar-Shastri Nagar-Mori Gate BRT was made by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS). The proposal has been given in-principle approval. The DPR will be submitted to the Transport department and will go through various stages of approval, including from the Finance department, before it is sent to the Cabinet for approval,’’ Chandramohan said.
Dikshit said: “We must learn from our past mistakes and make sure that they are not repeated. We are ensuring proper planning before (fresh) work is taken up. The traffic dynamics of this area are very different from the Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand corridor.”
The 15-km Karawal Nagar-Mori Gate corridor will be a mix of different models and will run along the river bank. “We have not reduced the road width on this corridor. Private vehicles will continue to have as much space as they have now,” a senior official said.
The BRT will follow a hybrid system — it will not be closed at any point but will be flexible as per requirement. “Emphasis will be on ensuring proper cycle tracks along the BRT as many people in this area use cycles,’’ the official said.
The corridor has been broken into two parts — one stretch is from Karawal Nagar to Gandhinagar while the second covers Bhajanpura and Mori Gate connecting with Shastri Park.
Last year, the Delhi government set aside a budget of Rs 450 crore for 14 BRTs. “Work on 14 other BRT corridors is supposed to be taken up by DIMTS and the PWD. The DIMTS is likely to execute the Karawal Nagar-Shastri Park corridor first before it takes up preparation of DPRs for other stretches,” the official said.



