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Pedestrian bridges yet to get highway authority nod
The Haryana Urban Development Authority's (Huda) plan to construct two foot-over-bridges (FOBs) at Iffco and Hero Honda chowks on the Gurgaon Expressway seems to be stuck. Dhananjay Jha reports.
The Haryana Urban Development Authority's (Huda) plan to construct two foot-over-bridges (FOBs) at Iffco and Hero Honda chowks on the Gurgaon Expressway seems to be stuck. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has not responded to Huda's proposal even after a week.
A senior official said the NHAI might not agree to share the FOB construction cost.
The Huda had sent the proposal, regarding sharing the construction cost between the two authorities, to NHAI chairman RP Singh last week. The highways authority was likely to send its consent (approval) in 3-4 days. In the proposal, Huda had also sent the Hero Honda Chowk FOB design for approval.
"We have hired an expert to prepare the design of Iffco Chowk FOB. We aim to complete both the FOBs in next 2-3 months," said a senior Huda official. He added that the work on the bridges should be intensified to ensure smooth vehicular movement on the expressway.
A senior NHAI official said, "We have not denied the proposal. The pros and cons need to be checked before we give our consent. The cost-sharing factor is one such issue that needs to be considered."
"It is not just the FOBs. Service lanes, too, need to be widened to decongest the main carriageway," said the official, adding that the chairman might send his reply to the proposal in a couple of days.
He added that several issues related to decongesting the expressway were discussed in a meeting held on February 13, 2012, under the chairmanship of the then NHAI chairman AK Upadhyay.
"Widening the service lanes is major issue. Huda has to provide land to NHAI for widening the lanes, as discussed. In the meeting held in February, Huda, too, had agreed to it, but it has not initiated the process," said the official.
The meeting was represented by the then DCP (traffic) Bharti Arora.
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