GURUGRAM:
Huda has closed the road passing through sectors 76-77 that connects Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) with NH8, bypassing the
Kherki Daula toll plaza, to lay down 26 ducts for water pipelines and electrical cables.
Huda executive engineer Shweta Sharma said, “Huda has dug up the road to install 26 ducts. Water pipes and electrical wires will go inside these ducts. We will dig deep to lay down the ducts as we don’t want any accidents to happen later.”
Commuters, who have been using this vital passage, seem to be unaware about the ongoing work. Sunnet Gupta claimed on Twitter that the toll plaza concessionaire, Millennium City Expressway Private Limited (MCEPL), had put trucks at the start of the road, blocking commuters from approaching the highway and forcing them to use the Kherki Daula toll plaza. Similarly, Manoj Lakhani, a resident of DLF New Town Heights, Sector 90, said, “MCEPL has deliberately blocked the road. Today, they have dumped mud on the road and dug up some portions of it. Why are they creating problems for commuters?” Sai Krishna, the site engineer with MCEPL, said, “We have not dug up any road. MCEPL never does such things.”
The road was unofficially opened for truckers and other cars. However, a 400 metre stretch of the road was left unfinished because of a sewage problem but even that stretch has now been completed.
“Earlier, several transporters demanded for trucks to be allowed to pass through the road. They started using the road on their own. Now, we have closed it till the ducts are installed in the next two months. The road will be made operational for commuters after it is ready,” said Sharma.
The work on the 5-km road, including 2.8 kms from SPR to Shikohpur Nagar and anotehr 2.2 kms from there to NH8, started in January, this year. The deadline for the project is December. After the new road is thrown open, commuters from Golf Course Road and
Faridabad can directly reach
Manesar through SPR without needing to cross the busy Kherki Daula toll plaza.
However, MCEPL officials said that the road should not be made operational at any cost. S Raghuraman, CEO, MCEPL, said, “At least 85,000 vehicles cross the Kherki Daula toll plaza daily but after this road became partially functional, it led to a dip in traffic flow here. Who is going to pay for our loss? Everyone wants the toll plaza removed but no one thinks about the concessionaire.”
