New projects: Chauhan one up on Sheila in inaugurations

Chauhan has made these double inaugurations a trend. On Wednesday,Dikshit will inaugurate three flyovers and an underpass,all of which have already been thrown open to the public by Chauhan.

Justifying his decision to go ahead,Chauhan said: “I do not want to hold up a flyover or an underpass from the public because of a formal ceremony. As soon as a stretch is ready for trials,we open it. The final inauguration though is done by the chief minister,once everything is in place.” Dikshit will cut the ribbon on Wednesday for three flyovers — Shastri Park,Geeta Colony and Raja Ram Kohli flyovers. She will also inaugurate the ITO Chungi.

The Shastri Nagar flyover was opened by Chauhan on November 3; the ITO Chungi underpass on October 6. Last year too,Chauhan inaugurated the Rao Tula Ram Flyover on Outer Ring Road,barely five days before the chief minister’s inauguration on October 9. Chauhan said the next in line for a formal take-off is the newly opened Munirka flyover. “We opened it to the public as soon as it was ready for motorists. We need to do a lot of work before we can ask Sheila Dikshit to inaugurate it,” he said.

There is,however,talk in government corridors that Dikshit is not at all happy with Chauhan’s haste. More so,because a hurried job once left the minister red-faced. On October 6,hours after Chauhan inaugurated the ITO underpass,an underground pipe burst on the stretch,flooding the section and holding up traffic for long. It took several days for motorists to get the green signal here.

This underpass has also missed several deadlines. The construction was approved in November 2007; work began in March 2008 and was to be completed in just six months. But there were delays — first,an objection from the Delhi Jal Board,which said a pipeline taking water to the Sonia Vihar treatment plant ran underground. And then a pipe burst in March this year,pushing back the deadline further.