Kherki Daula toll plaza shifting: Funds released for purchase of land

The plan to shift the Kherki Daula toll plaza to another site in Panchgaon near the KMP expressway has started to gain momentum. The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), the industrial arm of the Haryana government, last month paid Rs 30 crore to the district revenue officer in Gurugram for payment of compensation to landowners at Kukrola, one of the five villages that comprise Panchgaon, where the new toll plaza is proposed to be constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Earlier, the plan was to shift the toll plaza to Sehrawan, 11 km from Kherki Daula. However, the transfer of land could not happen after concerns were raised by environment and wildlife activists. A petition was also filed by a Manesar resident in National Green Tribunal against setting up the toll plaza at this site, after which authorities decided to shift it further towards Panchgaon.

“The money was transferred for the purchase of land last month and the site was finalised by authorities in Gurugram. All efforts are being made to expedite the shifting,” TL Satyaprakash, managing director (MD), HSIIDC, said.

Another senior HSIIDC official said that this land will be bought by HSIIDC and transferred to NHAI for setting up and operating the toll plaza.

Officials privy to the matter said that efforts are being made by the agencies of the Haryana government and NHAI to ensure that acquisition of land and construction work are completed by the middle of December this year. “A meeting was also held on Monday in which state officials, and NHAI representatives were present to discuss early completion of work,” said an official, who is not authorized to speak to the media.

Shifting of Kherki Daula toll plaza has been a key demand of the residents of New Gurugram and industrialists in Manesar, claiming congestion and traffic jams daily at this bottleneck. The shifting of Kherki Daula has, however, been challenged by the highway concessionaire MCEPL, which approached the Delhi High court after the NHAI served termination notice on it on account of deficient services.

“This is only a pressure tactic, as we have delivered on the agreement signed during takeover of the road with NHAI,” S Raghuraman, CEO, MCEPL.