NHAI removes transmission tower, Hindon elevated road completion to proceed

The transmission and the tower were one of the last hindrances in the completion of the 10.3km Hindon elevated road.

To proceed work for the completion of the Hindon elevated road, a high capacity transmission line has been shifted and the transmission tower near NH-24 has been removed, officials said.

The transmission tower hindered the elevated road’s connectivity with NH-24. (SAKIB ALI/HT PHOTO)

The transmission and the tower were one of the last hindrances in the completion of the 10.3km Hindon elevated road.

As per an earlier meeting held between the officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ghaziabad development authority (GDA), the obstacle was to be removed by January 7.

The road will give direct and signal free connectivity to commuters from Raj Nagar Extension to the UP Gate.

The NHAI officials on Tuesday got the transmission tower removed as it posed connectivity issue with NH-24 and also posed hindrance in completion of a 25 metre remaining patch for the Hindon elevated road.

“The transmission tower was nearly 33 metres from the centre of the highway and has been dismantled. The 132KV line (from Vaishali to Sector-62, Noida) is also shifted. Now, the GDA can start with their construction work,” said RP Singh, project director, NHAI.

The GDA officials on the other hand said the tower posed hindrance and hampered construction of nearly 25 metre road work.

“The connectivity from NH-24 to the elevated road is about 180 metres. We completed the rest of the road work but now we need to construct nearly 25 metre as the tower is dismantled. The pending road work will be complete within 10 days,” said SS Verma, superintending engineer, GDA.

The 10.3km Hindon elevated road is scheduled to get completed in January and the officials have sought time from chief minister Yogi Adityanath to inaugurate it.

The road is constructed at a cost of Rs1,147 crore for which the GDA had also obtained a loan of Rs700 crore from the NCR Planning Board.

Apart from the last obstruction in the road construction, the officials are also awaiting the environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.

In a recent hearing on January 4, the National Green Tribunal had directed the ministry to take appropriate decision within one month, in accordance with law, for grant of EC to GDA. The authority had already applied for the EC.

“It may be noted that failure to take such decision will be met with coercive measures to seek compliance of our directions (sic),” the tribunal said in its order.

The execution application was moved by Ghaziabad resident Sushil Raghav. On his petition, the NGT in September 2016 had held that the road was covered under the ambit of EC and the authority must obtain the clearance for the project.