New Delhi:
VK Residents Say Nelson Mandela Rd Haven For Anti-Social Elements
After Dark, Cops Go Missing
It is a long, wide stretch, relatively free of potholes. The Nelson
Mandela Road, a 4.6km-long key arterial link to Vasant
Kunj, should be one of the most pleasurable commutes in the
city. Instead, it has acquired the reputation of being shady and
best avoided after dark.
The murder of TV journalist Soumya Viswanathan, about half-a-kilometre
away from the Vasant Kunj police station on October 1, has left
the residents of the area feeling insecure when they return home
late night after work, dinner or a movie.
Ashima Mathur, a resident of C3 who was waiting for her kids
to return from school, at the bus-stop near Vasant Arcade market,
shudders at the thought of late-night outings with the family.
"We really don't want to take a chance anymore;
the road is full of ruffians in the night and there's usually
no police around," she says.
Prone to worrying about her husband, who works for a city hotel
and is usually home early morning, she is now completely paranoid
about his safety. "God forbid anything untoward happens,
no one will even stop to help."
Titus Upputuru, creative director with a city agency, who also
has erratic working hours, is equally cynical about the state
of safety arrangements on the road. "It is four-lane
wide, so there's enough space to chase and run,"
he says, referring to bikers who find the stretch particularly
appealing. Wondering why there are no PCR vans or barricading
on the road after midnight, he is also concerned about cars parked
along the road - a common sight along the dimly-lit stretch.
"I've seen people drinking in what looks like
soft-drink bottles but I'm quite sure they're boozing,"
he says. Titus, who sometimes used the stretch for a jog in the
evenings, is now convinced he needs to find another, safer track.
&"I've heard of money being stolen from ATM
machines in the market along the road."
A fact that Ruby Bhalla, the 35-yearold chemist at Ruby Medicos,
attests to. The market, which is pitch dark after 7 pm -
the streetlight poles are there, minus the bulbs - is a
hotbed of petty theft. "Last-minute shoppers have
had purses stolen, especially if they step out of an ATM booth,"
he says. The market apparently has no security arrangements. "One
or two ATMs have shut down after money was stolen from customers
at the booth," he says, referring to the recent tragedy.
Senior police officers, who didn't want to be quoted, explained
that security in any area is a function of good lighting, road
engineering and constant patrolling. While patrolling has increased
on the stretch, residents are sceptical. S Rajini, a 33-year-old
employee of IFFCO in Saket, recalls a traumatic ride back home
to block B11 in an office matador. "It was around
6.30 pm, I was sitting by the window, when suddenly, two miscreants
on a motorcycle snatched my chain and whizzed away,"
she says. The incident took place just as the matador had crossed
the JNU gates and was turning into Nelson Mandela Road.
We chased them for a bit, but naturally, they got
away," she recalls. Her father, Sampath Kumaran,
preferred not to a police complaint because, he says, bitterly:
&"Cops would've tussled with each other about
whether the case belonged to Vasant Kunj or Vasant Vihar."
Bikers racing each other are a common site on the stretch. NS
Ahlawat, secretary of B11 RWA, admits to feeling bullied by the
road hogs: &"They zig-zag their way around, like they
own the road, and there's absolutely no one to stop them."
His wife, Santosh, who teaches at a government school in Vasant
Vihar, has also observed minors driving fancy cars on the stretch.
Attributing the unsafe nature of the road to the presence of
'fancy schools' and a five-star-hotel
in the vicinity, as well as to a neighbouring cinema hall, she
no longer ventures out unaccompanied. However, she hardly expects
the young to follow suit.
Reacting sharply to chief minister Sheila Dikshit's remarks
about young people seeking adventure, she says, "Does
the CM expect the youth to lock themselves up at home in the night?
Why can't the government focus on the real issues -
alert cops, barricading, proper lighting instead of blaming people
for being out on the street?"
Nelson Mandela Marg now has a PCR van at short intervals across
the stretch. While residents hope the effort is towards long-term
security, most believe that it is only a temporary reaction to
yet another avoidable death.
