Dwarka: Roads jammed by office goers and school students during the peak hours in the morning is a regular affair in Shahabad Mohammadpur village near Dwarka sector- 8. The commuters from the village and neighbouring localities such as Raj Nagar and Palam can be seen stuck in long traffic jams at Shahabad Mohammadpur railway level crossing. The traffic is at its highest during office hours.
Several commuters from South West Delhi pass through Shahabad Mohammadpur level crossing on a daily basis. However, during peak hours, because of an absence of a road divider, the commuters change lanes while waiting for the level crossing to open. As soon as the crossing opens, traffic from both sides clashes, causing long traffic jams. What follows is a series of verbal arguments, accidents, and longer traffic jams.
Dinesh Sharma, a resident of Shahabad Mohammadpur village says, "I face this problem daily and this is getting worse by the day. When the gates of the crossings open, everyone starts moving forward and doesn't even give way to pedestrians. People coming from both directions want to go first and in this hurry, everyone gets late and is still stuck in the traffic".
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There is also an underpass constructed on the other side of the crossing to ease out the traffic but it is not in popular use. "At the opposite side of this crossing, an underpass is constructed. However, hardly anyone uses it because it is too far off. Also, even that route is not devoid of traffic," says Rajiv Sharma, a resident of Dwarka sector 23.
However, daily commuters of the route and a resident of Sector 7, Dwarka, Tripti Bakshi says, "We have been suggested to use the underpass, however, we don't have that much time. I live in Dwarka sector-7 and my office is in Gurugram. Everyone is in a hurry to reach their destination. We have to commute through the village to reach the main road. We are not intentionally creating any issues for the residents. The government must do something about this."
Another regular commuter of this route and a resident of Shahbad Mohammadpur says, "There is already so much noise and air pollution and now, this traffic problem is only adding to it. The commuters of Gurugram and other areas should use the underpass route and leave this road for the village people, so, that our children can walk on the street safely and we all can reach our office on time." The village is surrounded by the Delhi airport and a railway station. The metro work has been completed recently in that area. The regular traffic blues add to the already existing issues of the residents.
According to residents of the village, the absence of any traffic police officer on the spot is a big part of the problem. Sagar Gaur, a resident of Shahabad Mohammad Pur says, "Nobody follows any rule and there is no traffic police officer on the duty there. Once the gates of the crossings go up, you can people driving crazily. No one pays any heed to the pedestrians. Time by time, I and some other residents of this village stand here to control the traffic and help people to commute safely," says Sagar Gaur, a resident of Shahabad Mohammadpur.
Further talking about an incident, Gaur says, "One day, an ambulance got stuck in a jam and we were trying hard to clear the way. However, no one was ready to co operate. We took the patient out of the ambulance and drove him to the hospital in our car."
The residents of that area are also concerned about the safety of their kids. Sunita Rani, a resident of the SPG complex says, "There is one park in the locality and even that's unsafe for our kids. We can't leave them alone, not even for a second, because there is so much traffic. At least two officers should be on duty here for the sake of everyone's safety".
