Gurugram:
As the Haryana government sealed the Delhi-Gurugram border on Friday morning to contain the Covid-19 spread, several projects of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in the city have taken a hit.
Officials of the NHAI contractor for Ambience Mall underpass project said that as they are working close to the Delhi-Gurgaon border, the restrictions have slowed down the pace at which the work had resumed on April 24.
RK Contractor, which has the contract for Ambience Mall underpass and Shankar Chowk elevated U-turn, said that its site office is located at Sirhaul toll on the Delhi-Gurgaon the expressway and it is not able to take machinery from one part of Sirhaul to the other (Ambience Mall) side.
Kunal Garg, project manager, RK Contractor, said, “We have a construction site at Sirhaul toll where there are machines. With the border restrictions in place, how are we supposed to take the material and machines from the construction site to the other side where Ambience Mall underpass is being constructed?”
With the lockdown in place, the only U-turn below the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway back to Gurgaon at Rajokri was closed by the police in March itself. Taking machines and labourers from the site office to the construction site has become a big issue for the contractor. “Before the lockdown, our workers would take a U-turn below Rajokri towards the construction site, now this has stopped,” added Garg.
{{/usCountry}}With the lockdown in place, the only U-turn below the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway back to Gurgaon at Rajokri was closed by the police in March itself. Taking machines and labourers from the site office to the construction site has become a big issue for the contractor. “Before the lockdown, our workers would take a U-turn below Rajokri towards the construction site, now this has stopped,” added Garg.
{{/usCountry}}Similarly, contractor for the Sohna elevated road, between Badshahpur and GD Goenka University in Sohna, faced difficulty in procuring machine parts for one of their vehicles on Friday. Kuldeep Rajvanshi, project director, HG Infrastructure, NHAI’s contractor for the project, said, “There is a cutting machine which broke down and the parts are available in Delhi. Now, with the Delhi-Gurgaon border sealed, we are not able to procure the parts. This eventually has hit our work.”
NHAI officials in Gurugram said that contractors can show the working permission to the police for their movement. However, it is up to the police whether to allow them to cross the border, they said.
The Gurugram police said they are following district administration orders issued on Thursday evening restricting the movement of vehicles on the border with Delhi.
Karan Goel, assistant commissioner of police (DLF), who has been deployed at Sirhaul toll plaza, said, “We are following the orders by the district administration that only essential services will be allowed beyond the Delhi-Gurugram border and other movement will be restricted.”