Gurugram residents pool in ₹2.5 lakh to link NPR with Delhi-Gurgaon eway - Hindustan Times
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Gurugram residents pool in 2.5 lakh to link NPR with Delhi-Gurgaon eway

ByRohit David, Gurugram
Sep 30, 2019 11:45 PM IST

Facing troubles for the past nine months, residents of the newly developed sectors in the city pooled in 2.5 lakh and built a 350-metre road on Sunday night at Northern Peripheral Road (NPR), providing connectivity to the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway.

HT Image
HT Image

Since January, the residents of sectors 79-113 had been using the muddy stretch as it enabled them to skip the toll at Kherki-Daula. The stretch had emerged after the demolition of a wall on NPR on January 23 this year by the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP). The wall was built by the expressway concessionaire — Millennium City Expressway Private Limited (MCEPL) — to divert the traffic towards the toll plaza. Though steal barriers were installed in place of the wall on February 8 on the orders of the Delhi High Court, the new path remained open to commuters.

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“This road was made with the help of locals. Around 2.5 lakh was collected to make this road,” said Lokesh Yadav, a resident of Sector 83.

According to the residents, around 5m stretch has been left out, so that the road remains disconnected with the expressway to avoid any legal action. They also claimed that the area where the road has been built is a private land, and no permission is needed from any authority to do anything there.

Praveen Malik, a resident of Sector 92, said, “The place where the road has been made belongs to a private entity. It has given this piece of land for public cause so that commuters of new sectors can easily travel to the expressway. What’s the matter of concern if a road is made on it?”

A man from a nearby village, who has put up a tent to sell ayurvedic medicines along the NPR, said that the stretch was concretised between 11pm and 3am.

Though the wall was demolished in January after chief minister Manohal Lal Khattar had given an assurance to the residents in this regard, no government agency confirmed having received any such instructions this time.

On Monday, the government agencies said they were not aware of the step taken by the residents and had no role to play in it.

Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner, Gurugram, said, “We have not done this. Check with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).”

When asked about the development, NHAI officials were completely clueless about the road being laid. “I have no idea who has laid the road. I will have to speak with MCEPL officials about this,” said a senior NHAI official. Similarly, a senior Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) official said, “HSVP has not done any road construction there.”

However, the expressway concessionaire is not happy with the development. S Raghuraman, chief executive officer of MCEPL, questioned how the road could come up without the knowledge of the government officials. “The road was made overnight. We don’t know who has made it. No one has the right to make it when the matter is under litigation. I want to see what action the administration is going to take now. It’s strange that the government doesn’t know about it,” said Raghuraman.

The MCEPL had built the wall in 2016 so that commuters could not use this stretch and travel through the toll only. After the wall was demolished in January, MCEPL had taken the matter to the Delhi High Court and the next date of hearing in this matter is December 19.

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