50-year-old labourer inaugurates Gurugram’s Iffco Chowk flyover

Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI, said that they had decided to let the workers inaugurate the flyover as they wanted to honour their labour in making the two-year-old project turn into a reality.

After working for months on the Iffco Chowk flyover, the labourers involved in the project never thought that they would get the honour of inaugurating the flyover, the completion of which was significantly delayed due to presence of a gas station and high tension towers.

NHAI’s decision to asking a labourer to inaugurate the Iffco Chowk flyover was appreciated by the workforce. (Yogendra Kumar/HT Photo)

However, on Tuesday, officials of the National Highways Authority of INDIA(NHAI), instead of holding a high profile function, asked a 50-year old worker, Pyari Devi, to cut the ribbon to formally open traffic on this road, much to the delight of over 30 workers, who joined her in the ceremony.

The move by the NHAI was appreciated not only by the labourers, but also by a commuter passing through the road, who stopped by and presented a box of sweets to the officials for showing such a heart-warming gesture.

Work on this uni-directional flyover at Iffco Chowk that will facilitate traffic from the Jaipur side to MG Road and Rajiv Chowk started in 2016. However, it was delayed due to the presence of a GAIL gas station and power transmission towers at the site.

The four-lane structure is 917-metre long and has four continuous spans of 21 metre each. It has been built at a cost of ₹32.75 crore and is fitted with street lights on both sides.

“I am very happy and was pleasantly surprised by the opportunity given to me, as we never thought about this while working on the project. Every worker has been touched by this noble gesture,” said Pyari Devi, who hails from Madhya Pradesh. Other labourers present at the spot also appreciated this gesture and said that never before had they been a part of such a spectacle, where officials had set aside high-profile guests and let workers inaugurate the project.

Majority of the workers involved in this project are from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

Ashok Sharma, project director, NHAI, said that they had decided to let the workers inaugurate the flyover as they wanted to honour their labour in making the two-year-old project turn into a reality.

“Working at Iffco Chowk is tough as the traffic is heavy and the road conditions are poor. The hard work of these labourers will bring great relief to commuters, and this was the reason we honoured them,” he added.