After a long delay, the final obstacle in the completion of the Dwarka Expressway — a 30-metre stretch of land near Kherki Daula — was removed on Thursday after the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) cleared the land.
The patch of the land under question could not be cleared earlier as the allotment of plots to land owners was delayed due legal issues. On December 26, 2018, alternative plots of land in Sector 37-C were given to the oustees that paved the way for the opening up of this road, said HSVP officials. Due to non-availability of this patch, commuters in the city were forced to pass through a narrow lane in Kherki Daula village for so long.
Despite the opening of this stretch , the connectivity of the Dwarka Expressway, also known as the Northern Peripheral ROAD(NPR), with the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway is yet to become a reality, as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) says that this can only happen once a clover leaf interchange is constructed at the Central Peripheral Road (CPR).
The 29.4-km Dwarka Expressway was originally conceived in 2006, but it was transferred to the NHAI in 2016 that now plans to turn it into an elevated access control expressway and connect to the highway through the CPR.
{{/usCountry}}The 29.4-km Dwarka Expressway was originally conceived in 2006, but it was transferred to the NHAI in 2016 that now plans to turn it into an elevated access control expressway and connect to the highway through the CPR.
{{/usCountry}}The opening of the stretch on Thursday evening surprised a large number of commuters. “This is a great development as earlier we had to cross through a narrow village lane,” said Vivek Singh, a cab driver. He, however, said that the final solution would be connecting the NPR with the highway.
HSVP officials said that they worked hard throughout the day to persuade the landowners to vacate the land on their own accord. “Throughout the day, we held discussions with the owners and asked them vacate at least the part that was not occupied. We have cleared that part, and time has been alloted to the owners to vacate the rest of the area,” said Rampal Yadav, sub-divisional officer, HSVP.
Chander Shekhar Khare, HSVP administrator, said that they had allotted alternative plots to the owners last month, and they had been given adequate time to shift. “This stretch would be cleared in three to four days. This will make it easier for vehicles to ply as they need not enter the village,” he added.
Kherki Daula villagers, who were badly affected by the movement of vehicles, expressed satisfaction at the development. “I have been asking the HSVP officials to clear this stretch for a long time. A number of time large trucks got stuck in the village lane causing problems,” said Dileep Yadav, a resident of the Kherki Daula village.
Residents of the newly developing sectors of the city, while welcoming the development, said that the lack of connectivity of the NPR with the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway would remain a major bottleneck. “The government should either remove this wall or get the Kherki Daula toll shifted; otherwise it would remain a half-baked measure for us,” said Prakhar Sahai, a member of the Dwarka Expressway Welfare Association.