Gurgaon: Residents meet Gadkari, demand roundabout at Panchgaon Chowk

Residents claimed that work on two national highways has hit connectivity to their villages

A group of about 50 villagers claiming to be adversely affected by the construction of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) and Delhi-Jaipur national highways met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari at Transport Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday. They said they want a roundabout on the national highway at Panchgaon Chowk, while the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) has proposed a cloverleaf on site.

A group of 30 villagers met Union transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on Tuesday.(HT PHOTO)

“We want a roundabout, not a cloverleaf. We made our demand known during the meeting with the union minister. The Union ministry has appointed a consultant to look into feasibility of a roundabout or cloverleaf or other alternatives at the spot,” Mahender Singh, who led the delegation to Transport Bhawan on Tuesday, said.

Connectivity to these villages are being badly hit because of these projects. While the KMP already has two toll plazas, there is a proposal to shift the Kherki Daula toll on the national highway to Sehrawan, 2km behind Panchgaon Chowk.

The two highway projects have blocked connectivity to 50 villages, residents claimed. They said the governments at the state and the Centre did not plan on linking these villages to the highways, Yadav said.

“While hundreds of villages located across the NH between Rajiv Chowk and Kherki Daula have been cut off by the highway, our villages, too, face a similar fate. Now, the government has planned a cloverleaf at Hero Honda Chowk nine years after the highway was made operational. We have threatened a mass protest if a roundabout on site is ruled out by the Centre,” Mahender Yadav, who led the delegation to the minister, said.

The delegates met Gadkari for the second time in the last one month. On August 5, residents had submitted a memorandum to the union minister in the matter. Gadkari had assured of forming a committee to look into the issue.

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Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, secretary MoRTH, YS Malik, deputy commissioner (DC), Gurgaon, Vinay Pratap Singh and several other senior officials of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) were present at the meeting.

An official in the MoRTH told Hindustan Times, “The minister (Gadkari) has appointed a consultant in this regard. The consultant will submit a report on the feasibility of a roundabout, cloverleaf or any other alternatives to provide better connectivity to these villages.”