Residents of around 200 villages from Nuh are demanding access to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway from Marora village, 40 kilomtres from Nuh.
Residents said they frequently visit religious places in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and the due to the construction of the new expressway, they will have to travel extra 40 kilometres. They said they need the creation of an exit on the expressway to access it.
Rajuddin, a social worker from Mewat, said that locals have been facing difficulties for the last 18 months. “The state highway from Nagina to Hodal is connected to the Mumbai Expressway. Morara village is the midpoint of Nuh and all villagers use this stretch to go tot Mathura, Vrindavan , Kashi and Tijara (Rajasthan),” he said.
Residents of the region have held several meetings and written to the President of India, Niti Aayog, the Prime Minister, the chief minister of Haryana, the union transport ministry and National Highways Authority of India, asking for access to the expressway but to no avail, locals said.
Residents of Nuh held a meeting on Monday where all heads of villages agreed to make collective efforts to gain access to the expressway.
Subhash Chand, the sarpanch of Jhimrawat, said that if the issue is not resolved within a month they will block the state highway and protest. “No one is ready to listen to our demands. The population mostly comprises farmers and they live hand to mouth--if we have to spend extra on travel and spend money why should we even vote for those who are not ready to understand our needs,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Subhash Chand, the sarpanch of Jhimrawat, said that if the issue is not resolved within a month they will block the state highway and protest. “No one is ready to listen to our demands. The population mostly comprises farmers and they live hand to mouth--if we have to spend extra on travel and spend money why should we even vote for those who are not ready to understand our needs,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Villagers said that access to the expressway will connect 200 villages comprising a population of 500,000 along the stretch.
Saleem Khan , the sarpanch of Basai Khanjada village village, said, “The majority of the work has already been allotted to contractors--if we don’t get access now , we won’t be able to get later. The access will allow us easy commute to the national Capital and Rajasthan and will lift the economic activity of the district. Educated children look for jobs in Delhi, Gurugram, and Rajasthan,” he said.
The work on around 160 kilometers of the highway in Haryana is expected to be completed by March 2022.
This expressway is being developed as an eight-lane access-controlled greenfield expressway, which can be expanded to 12 lanes by adding four more lanes in the future. A median of 21-metre width is being built on this expressway, which can be reduced for widening the road.
Abbas Khan, a resident of Marora village, who is spearheading the demand for the access road, said that access is also important as the farmers have to visit different markets to sell their products and take a longer route and pay the toll price. “This is torture for them,” he said.
The villagers are planning to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court to get relief in the matter in January. “We have consulted a lawyer and we are preparing the documents to file the writ,” he said.