By IANS,
Ghaziabad : Residents and industry owners in Ghaziabad have given their suggestions to the authorities on the proposed redevelopment of national highways passing through the area, a representative of the residents said Sunday.
The Ghaziabad Residents’ Welfare Association Federation and the Ghaziabad Industries Federation Saturday submitted their suggestions on environment and infrastructure at a meeting chaired by the district magistrate and attended by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials and farmers.
The petitioners filed their objections to the redevelopment of National Highways 24 (Delhi-Moradabad), 58 (Delhi-Dehradun) and 235 (Meerut-Bulandshahar).
The residents’ federation demanded a toll-free service lane on both sides of the highways to enable free movement of villagers.
They asked the NHAI to use rubble collected from the demolished buildings in the urban areas as a base for the highway, in place of earth.
“Stone crushers can be employed to convert large pieces of debris into fine aggregates which can easily be laid under the road,” said S.K. Maheswari, general secretary of the Ghaziabad RWA Federation.
This would eliminate altogether the use of fertile soil for filling the road base, he said.
Some green activists asked the NHAI to plant saplings of Indian species along the highways.
The federations also suggested to the NHAI to install solar lights at underpasses.
“We would discuss all these points with our higher officials before implementing them,” an NHAI official said.