Stretch of Raj Nagar Extension to Indirapuram on Hindon elevated road opens
The Ghaziabad traffic police on Wednesday opened the 6-km stretch of the Raj Nagar Extension to Indirapuram carriageway on the Hindon elevated road
The Ghaziabad traffic police on Wednesday opened the 6-km stretch of the Raj Nagar Extension to Indirapuram carriageway on the Hindon elevated road. Another 5-km stretch of the road from Indirapuram to UP Gate remains shut.
It was shut since November last year on the back of the farmers’ protest at UP Gate.
The 10.3 km Hindon elevated road is a major link between Raj Nagar Extension and UP Gate with an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 vehicles using it every day on ordinary days. It linked Ghaziabad to Noida and offered a route to Delhi.
After the route was shut, commuters were forced to use and congest routes via Mohan Nagar to reach CISF Road in Indirapuram from where they can travel to Noida below the Delhi Meerut Expressway.
But, the opening did little to satisfy commuters.
“It is certainly a relief, but then there is the 2-km stretch of the CISF Road to Delhi Meerut Expressway that remains dug up due to a pipeline project that had been going on for the last year,” said B K Pandey, a resident of Vaishali sector-5 who works in Ahimsa Khand, Indirapuram. “That road too needs to be fixed if we are to reduce the traffic problem.”
As a result, moving to Delhi is still fraught with traffic snarls.
The pipeline is a UP Jal Nigam project under a central government urban mission and is to carry treated water from three sewage treatment plants at Indirapuram to the Hindon river.
The project was supposed to finish in July last year but was delayed due to the coronavirus induced lockdown.
“The road relaying will go up to June or end of May. This is because the road was dug up to a depth of about 3.5 to 4 metres for laying big pipelines. At the base we have filled concrete and sand and a layer will come up soon which will at least make road motorable. However, the bitumen and blacktopping will take more time as we want to ensure that the filling settles down otherwise it may lead to breakage of the road,” said Amit Kumar, executive engineer from the UP Jal Nigam.
“We have deployed our personnel to ensure smooth traffic on the road,” said Ramanand Kushwaha, superintendent of police (traffic).
Kushwaha said that the inner lanes of the Delhi Meerut Expressway stretch will remain shut from Vijay Nagar to UP-Gate. The traffic moving from Vijay Nagar to UP-Gate is presently diverted to sector-62 in Noida while there is an underpass a couple of hundred metres ahead which can take commuters to Indirapuram.
“We thought of this option but the highway lanes of the DME have been barricaded at sector-62, Noida. If we open the barricades, commuters travelling to Indirapuram and even those travelling to Delhi will get mixed up and will finally reach Indirapuram. So, barricading at sector-62 will remain as it will be difficult to differentiate commuters moving to Indirapuram and those trying to go to Delhi,” he added.
