Danger lurks on road

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-year-old 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'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.
(radhika.oberoi@timesgroup.com)