E-Paper
Coronavirus scare: 25% skilled labourers yet to resume DME work after Holi
The completion of Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) project may face delays as a large number of workers has not returned to work after Holi and officials National Highways
The completion of Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) project may face delays as a large number of workers has not returned to work after Holi and officials National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are worried that the progress of work may be hampered if they do not return in another week.
The officials attributed the absenteeism to the coronavirus scare.
The NHAI is presently working on two phases — the 19.2km phase 2 from UP Gate to Dasna and the 32km phase 4 from Dasna to Meerut. The two pending phases have a completion deadline of May 2020. According to NHAI officials, about 25% of the workers at the two work sites have not returned after Holi (March 10).
“Phase 2 has about 1,200 workers while phase 4 has about 1,500. About 40% of the labourers had gone home for Holi festivities and were to return within a week. However, 25% of them have not returned and officials believe this is probably due to the coronavirus scare. Both concessionaires have notified us about the absence of labourers,” RP Singh, project director, NHAI, said.
“The work is likely to face delays as majority of those who have not returned are skilled labourers. They are deployed for the construction rail overbridge and other technical work such as driving heavy equipment, erecting structures, etc. If they don’t return within a week, the project will be delayed,” Singh said.
Phase 2 of the expressway is presently 73% complete while phase 4 is about 70% complete. Phase 2 is witnessing the construction of a 16-lane rail overbridge near Lal Kuan. Further four more lanes (Ghaziabad to Delhi side) of a bridge over river Hindon are still pending completion.
“The workers, semi-skilled and skilled, have not returned mainly due to the coronavirus scare. One of the groups, with about 30-32 workers, which was to come from Mumbai has delayed arrival by another 15 days owing to the coronavirus spread.We have notified NHAI about the issue. If the workers don’t arrive within the week, our work will be delayed and we will have to start looking for replacement workers,” Vinod Kumar, senior engineer (planning) from Apco Chetak, the concessionaire taking up phase 2 construction, said.
The phase 4 is a six-lane access-controlled expressway from Dasna to Meerut, over a 32km stretch. The work was resumed earlier this year after the UP government settled a major land issue with farmers.
The phase 4 had a deadline of August 2019, which was extended to May 2020 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the project. Of the four phases of DME, phase 1 (Akshardham to UP Gate) and phase 3 (Dasna to Hapur) are currently operational.
