2 days after it opened, NHAI wants toll bypass road shut

GURUGRAM: NHAI has written to Pink City Expressway, the concessionaire of NH8 from the Kherki Daula toll plaza till Jaipur, to immediately close the Sector 76-77 road, which connects Southern Peripheral Road with the national highway, bypassing the toll plaza.
NHAI (Jaipur) officials said on Thursday they were unaware about the road. “No permission was taken for the construction of such a road. We have directed our concessionaire (Pink City Expressway) to immediately shut down the road,” said a senior NHAI official.

The legal team of Millennium City Expressway Private Limited (MCEPL), the concessionaire of the part of NH8 in Delhi-Gurugram up to the Kherki Daula toll plaza, has given NHAI a day’s time to close the road or it will seek an urgent hearing in the matter.

However, the highways authority is not sure when Pink City Expressway will act on its instruction. “Had it been in our hands, we would have closed this road on Thursday morning,” said the NHAI official.

Meanwhile, the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), which has constructed the 5km four-lane road at a cost of Rs 37 crore, remained tight-lipped on the issue. HSVP had opened the road for commuters on Tuesday evening. According to MCEPL’s survey on Wednesday, it suffered a revenue loss of Rs 2.6 lakh in four hours as most vehicles used the Sector 76-77 road and avoided paying toll.

Pink City Expressway told TOI that it had not received any direction from NHAI to close the road. An official said, “This road must have been constructed without taking permission from NHAI. The road design should have been submitted to the highways authority. Howver, we have not received any directions to close the road yet.”

Last year, NHAI had also sent a termination notice to Pink City Expressway for not installing streetlights on the Rampura and IMT-Manesar flyovers but there has been no proper response from the concessionaire on the same.

Cars and heavy vehicles were seen using the Sector 76-77 road on Thursday. Some NHAI patrolling vehicles were also spotted. MCEPL is continuing its survey on number of vehicles using the road and resulting revenue loss. “From January 9 (1pm) to January 10 (5pm), we have lost Rs 13 lakh. NHAI cannot sit mute while another agency builds a road. How was this road opened without taking permission?” said S Raghuraman, CEO, MCEPL.

HSVP officials, however, didn’t respond to calls or messages from this correspondent.

Dwarka e-way residents start hunger strike

Dwarka Expressway residents started a protest on Thursday to press for the fast completion of the expressway and the removal of the Kherki Daula toll plaza. Five residents sat on an indefinite hunger strike near Bella Vista Garden in Sector 84. President of DXP Welfare Association Yashesh Yadav said, “We are only getting statements from ministers but there is no progress on the ground. So I am sitting on this hunger strike till senior government officials show some commitment.”