Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Verma on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, squarely blamed the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for the traffic congestion crippling the newly opened Barapullah Phase-III corridor, asserting that the flyover's design was approved during AAP's tenure and that the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration inherited a fundamentally flawed project. Verma simultaneously outlined a set of short- and long-term corrective measures, promising commuters visible improvements within 10 to 15 days.

The Design Accountability Dispute

At a press conference, Verma stated that the Barapullah Phase-III project formally commenced on 28 April 2015, meaning its design had been finalised in 2014-15 — when, he said, the AAP government had assumed power in Delhi. He argued that decisions on the number of lanes and other structural parameters were locked in at that point, leaving the present government with limited scope to alter the fundamental geometry of the corridor.

'The Aam Aadmi Party is an expert at proving lies as truth. There is no match for them when it comes to presenting any lie as the truth. The Barapullah Phase-III flyover project began in 2015. That means its design had already been approved in 2014-2015, when the Aam Aadmi Party government had come to power in Delhi. The entire design was approved during their tenure. How many lanes the flyover would have — all of this was decided by them,' Verma said.

He further alleged that the AAP government was responsible for the technical qualification of the contractor, the tendering process, and additional payments exceeding ₹600 crore during its years in office.

A Nine-Year Delay and Mounting Costs

Verma outlined the financial trajectory of the project, noting that its initial estimate was prepared in 2014-15 at ₹1,057 crore, while the contractor's tender came in at ₹964 crore. The work was originally due to be completed by 27 October 2017 — within 30 months of its April 2015 start — but ultimately concluded roughly nine years later, just before the corridor was inaugurated. The final cost of the flyover stands at ₹1,635 crore.

The minister also flagged a series of escalation payments made to the contractor before the BJP government took office in February 2025. 'The first escalation to the contractor was ₹36.66 crore before our government came to power. The second escalation's payment was ₹39.85 crore, again before our government. Then that contractor went to arbitration because this contract had an arbitration clause. During this, on 29 September 2021, the contractor was awarded ₹44 crore,' Verma said.

He added that when the BJP assumed office, 288 of the 298 pillars required for the flyover — roughly 80 per cent of the structural work — had already been erected.

The Capacity Question: Two Lanes on a High-Traffic Axis

Verma reserved particular criticism for the flyover's lane configuration, questioning why a corridor built over the Yamuna — flanked on one side by the DND Flyway and on the other by the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, both of which are roughly twice as wide — was designed with only two lanes on each side.

'Was (AAP chief Arvind) Kejriwal's vision so limited that on one side there is the DND Flyway, which is twice as wide, and on the other side is the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, whose width is also twice as much? You designed a flyover in 2015 where there is no space constraint, over the Yamuna, and still made it only two lanes on each side,' the minister said. He argued that any infrastructure project should be planned with 50 to 100 years of projected traffic and population growth in mind.

What the Delhi Traffic Police Flagged

The Delhi Traffic Police has written formally to the PWD identifying several design-related shortcomings on the corridor, chief among them a mismatch between lane capacity and the geometry of a key merger near Sundial Park. The police have also recommended the creation of a dedicated U-turn near Gurudwara Bala Sahib to ease bottlenecks. Verma confirmed that the department had held discussions with the Traffic Police on both immediate and structural remedies.

The Barapullah Phase-III flyover connects Mayur Vihar Phase-1 on Noida Link Road with Sarai Kale Khan on Ring Road, and forms part of a continuous 10-kilometre signal-free stretch extending up to the AIIMS roundabout.

Corrective Measures Underway

Verma said the PWD is actively working on a new U-turn, the possibility of adding a traffic lane, modifications at key merging points, and real-time traffic coordination with Google. He assured commuters that improvements would be discernible within 10 to 15 days. The opposition, for its part, has continued to press the ruling dispensation on why a newly inaugurated corridor was opened despite known design deficiencies — a line of attack Verma dismissed as politically motivated deflection.