News: 2.5 lakh residents, but a few buses & no auto stand; metro station 1 hour away-09-06-2022
GURUGRAM: New Gurugram is being touted as the next popular residential area of the city, with builders and realtors projecting that population in the area is expected to double over the next two years, but questions remain about the public transport infrastructure there.
These newly developed sectors along the Dwarka Expressway — 58 to 115 — have few buses to connect them with the rest of the city, metro stations are far off and there are no auto rickshaw stands for short distance-routes.
Booking taxis through cab-aggregator applications — another mode common to the city’s residents — is also difficult. Cab drivers often don’t want to come to the area to avoid paying toll tax at the Kherki Daula toll plaza that is necessary to cross to get to the sectors. Residents say the drivers also tend to cancel the rides, citing inaccessibility and the poor condition of roads in these sectors.
Around 2.5 lakh residents live in New Gurugram and the numbers will only inch upwards. According to data on the Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited (GMCBL) website, there are fewer than 10 bus routes that cross these sectors.
There are demands to scale up operations but GMCBL, witnessing a shortage of buses, has been struggling to manage in the city. Officials aren’t too optimistic either. “We have taken cognisance of the requirements and demands of residents in the past and have started routes in these sectors based on discussions with them. We will continue to do this in future as well. But right now, we simply don’t have the vehicles to add more routes,” a senior GMCBL official had told TOI last week.
GMCBL currently has a fleet of 200 buses, of which 50 are plying in Faridabad. With only 150 buses that can be operated in Gurugram , officials say they are grappling to meet the city’s demand, let alone the new sectors’.
Although a plan to procure 100 mini-buses had been approved by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) in December 2021, the project is yet to materialise.
“Once we get the additional 100 buses, we will look to improve connectivity across the city, including in the new sectors. We can then start new routes in these areas. But until our fleet size increases, nothing can be done,” the official had said, adding that it was unlikely this would happen before next year.
Similarly, metro trains are a popular mode of commute, especially for connectivity with other NCR cities. But residents of the new sectors have little access.
The closest station is Huda City Centre on the yellow line of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). But it is located anywhere between 10 and 27 kilometres from these sectors. Just reaching the metro station needs to be preceded with a drive that lasts between half-an-hour and an hour.
There is a plan to extend the metro line from Huda City Centre to Cyber City via Old Gurugram , with a link to the Dwarka Expressway, but this is still awaiting approval from the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs.
Even if approved, construction of the line will take at least a few years and not before 2025, officials said on Wednesday.
When asked, Gurugram deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said there were plans to resolve the transportation gaps.
On the metro, Yadav said a proposal had been taken up for another line connecting Palam Vihar to Dwarka, which would also cut across some of the New Gurugram sectors. “Regarding the buses, autorickshaws and other modes of transport, it is already being planned that the interstate bus stand of Gurugram will be developed in Sihi village, which is in Sector 37, close to Kherki Daula toll plaza, so it will be close to the new sectors. Once that happens, then automatically the entire transport facilities will come up in the area,” he said.
But with limited transport for now, residents said they have been left in the lurch. “Residents are practically living in isolation. If the transport facilities are not sufficient to provide for residents now, the situation will only become worse,” said Nishant Upadhyay, who lives in Sector 84.
