Daily commuters on SPR face traffic congestion and chaos as roadside vendors encroach on roads, bring traffic to crawling speeds. Besides, liquor vend on road raises security concerns.
A 16-km stretch of the Southern Peripheral Road (SPR), which is a crucial link between Faridabad-Gurgaon Road, Golf Course Extension Road and Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, is emerging as a bottleneck for commuters from new Gurgaon sectors.
Residents allege that a major portion of the road has been encroached upon by shop owners, eateries and street vendors. The encroachments have reduced the space available for pedestrians and eaten into the green belt along the road. The result is that there are traffic snarls galore, almost comparable with Iffco Chowk and Rajiv Chowk in terms of congestion at intersections.
“The road has a lot of cars that stop and owners wait to purchase different products from roadside vendors. This adds to chaos on the roads. There is little space for vehicles to move,” said Renuka Arora, a commuter.
Further, the presence of a liquor shop is creating a lot of inconvenience. “There are all kinds of people buying liquor from these shops, and hence ladies and children do not feel safe crossing this stretch.” said Ajay Sharma, a resident of Tulip Ivory, Sector 67.
To this Vikas Ranjan, resident of Tulip Orange, said, “We have asked for the removal of these encroachments a lot of times, but so far no action has been taken. The street vendors have left no space. What should have been a green belt is now full of vendors. ”
Now many people have recently moved into the newly constructed housing complexes in the sectors along the SPR and residents have now started facing problems due to these encroachments.
The encroachments on SPR have given rise to security concerns as well, residents claim. Moreover, they have made the areas accident-prone.
Yashpal Yadav, Huda administrator, told City Spidey, “We are developing a green belt on the stretch on both sides and also the anti-encroachment drive is in full swing. Regular drives will be conducted so that the encroachments do not take place. Also, developers will ensure that they secure their respective areas.”
