I received a mail from Ankush Bansal who says that; “We had sent a request on July 7 to Jt CP (Traffic) regarding removal of red light and close the cut of the road divider at Sultanpuri crossing on NH-10 in order to ease traffic flow at NH 10 in Nangloi. Still no action has been taken until now.”

According to him the crossing serves no useful purpose on a National Highway. His reasons are -:

1. DTC buses no longer use this cut on the road divider anymore. All bus routes going to and fro from the Sultanpuri road have been closed. Thus this cut serves no purpose now.

2. There is no use of having two traffic signals within 90 metres on a National Highway. One major traffic signal is at the Najafgarh crossing and one small signal is just 90 metres away at Sultanpuri chowk. The Sultanpuri Chowk traffic signal causes unnecessary traffic congestion and thus should be closed.

3. The volume of the traffic on the crossing is very little. Primarily cycle rickshaws, push carts and two-wheelers use the crossing. They dont follow traffic rules and thus contribute towards traffic congestion and also are a danger to the vehicles plying on the National Highway.

4. With the closure of the cut, this traffic can easily use Najafgarh crossing on one side and the U-turn 150 metres down the road on the other side towards Peeragarhi crossing.

5. The closure of the cut will ease traffic congestion at Nangloi and result in better and controlled traffic movement.

The application says, “It is further suggested to close the existing verge near the LCD garbage bin 150 metres from Sultanpuri crossing (towards Peeragarhi) and a broad U-turn may be provided on the Central Verge further 100 metres down in front of Surajmal Stadium where the road is broader. This would smoothen the traffic flow and result in further decongestion of the area.”

Well, Ankush the procedure of closing these cuts and removing signals is a long one and takes a bit of time. I have again forwarded your application to Joint CP (Traffic). The closure of cuts takes political colour also sometimes as the local MLAs and MPs intervene. I remember on New Rohtak Road a cut had to be opened after it was closed since the area residents objected to it and asked their area MLA to intervene on this matter although just a hundred metres away there was another cut. So the cops take all these decisions judiciously and carefully.