E-Paper
Portion of Delhi-Meerut E-way damaged by incessant rain
Mudit Garg, DME project director, explained that the damage occurred because authorities got possession of land on this stretch quite late and barely got six months to complete the soil work
MEERUT: Incessant rains over the past two months have damaged a portion of the 96-km-long Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME). The road has caved in at more than 100 spots on both sides of the newly built 46-km greenfield stretch between Meerut and Dasna (Ghaziabad).
The repair work is on but opposition party leaders raised questions over the quality of construction work and demanded a high level inquiry into it.
The expressway was constructed at a cost of ₹8,000-10,000 crore with an objective of reducing travel time between Meerut and Delhi to less than one hour. It comprises four stretches – Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to UP gate (8.7 kms), UP gate to Dasna in Ghaziabad (19.2 kms), Dasna to Hapur (22.2 kms) and Dasna to Meerut (46 kms).
The road caved in at 48 places on the left side of Meerut-Dasna stretch and at 62 places on the other side of the expressway.
Mudit Garg, DME project director, explained that the damage occurred because authorities got possession of land on this stretch quite late and barely got six months to complete the soil work. He said the area has sandy soil which needed extra time for growing grass to keep the soil intact.
He also admitted that small depressions too had developed at some places on the expressway. “It could have happened because of drip system that has been used for irrigation of plants on the divider of the expressway,” added Garg.
Garg claimed that a 10-day spell of dry weather is needed to fix all damages and the repair work is already going on in full swing.
Meanwhile, leaders of opposition parties termed it a major quality issue, which could pose threat to the lives of commuters. Pankaj Malik, Congress party West UP incharge, demanded a high level inquiry into the issue.
Senior Samajwadi party leader Sudhir Panwar said multiple damages on the expressway indicated that the government gave the responsibility of quality control to the company involved in constructing the expressway. He also demanded a high level probe to ascertain how a newly constructed flagship project suffered such damage.
“If this is happening with a flagship project, then think about the quality of other highways,” commented Panwar.
BJP MP from Meerut, Rajendra Agarwal, said sometimes these things happen during rain. “We have brought the issue to the notice of officials concerned and work is underway to fix the damages,” he said admitting that the expressway was built under pressure of a given time limit.
