Daily grind: Getting in is only worse than getting out

GURGAON: While it was the "Kawar' movement which led to the massive traffic congestion on Monday morning, Delhi-NCR residents heading towards Gurgaon complain that this is a regular affair and they have to face traffic congestion regularly, from 8 am to 10 am and again in the evening, between 6.30 pm and 8 pm.
Situation becomes worse if any car breaks down on the way.
In this congestion, what happens regularly is that most of the Cash payers drift towards the tag lanes. On the Gurgaon side, people coming from Udyog Vihar use the road below or along the E-Way. While many have to take U-turn towards Ambience mall, they cut across all six lanes of the expressway right before the toll to get to the other side. This causes massive blockage especially during peak office hours.
Rupesh Pandita, resident of Dwarka in Delhi, said, "My home is in the neighborhood. yet it takes me about one and half hour to get to DLF Golf Course in Phase V. If it wasn't for the toll, I'd reach my office in 40 minutes."
Another resident from Paschim Vihar, Rajan Vij said, "I am always concerned about the everyday congestion on the toll road. The private agency responsible for the opening of new toll gates claim that National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) didn't approve of the plan. The agency has cheated the commuters in the name of pre-paid tag facility."
Nishant Jain, resident of Vasant Vihar, said, "Although I don't use the expressway regularly, but whenever I do, it's a big disappointment. I prefer the Old Delhi road instead just to avoid the 30 minutes of wait."
When asked to comment on the issue, DCP (traffic) Bharti Arora said, "Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the private concessionaire to open five kiosks on five cash lanes on each side, on an experimental basis so that six vehicles can get clearance in one go. This is yet to be done."
A spokesperson of private concessionaire, Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd, said, "We are already processing over 600 vehicles per hour during the peak hours. This is anyways higher than what is mentioned as stipulated rate in the Concession Agreement. However, to increase the processing rate even further we are looking at experimenting with hand-held toll collecting devices in the lanes. We would also be relooking at out tag policy in order to encourage more cash commuters to switch on to electronic tags and touch card for toll collection which is faster. We are also going to implement High Court's order very soon."