By IANS
New Delhi : Angry over the continued delay in opening of the completed Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and Palam flyover, members of residents welfare associations Monday “inaugurated” the project “in the name of the common man”.
“It is shocking that the chief minister of Delhi and government officials willingly allowed people to suffer serious inconvenience and painful traffic snarls only for electoral advantage. This inauguration mania has to end and politicians have to be made to understand that it is our money that has made these flyovers possible,” said Sanjay Kaul, president of United RWA joint forum (URJA), a collective of resident welfare associations.
A group of members of the Palam residents welfare association came on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway Monday evening and shouted slogans over the delay in its opening. The 27-km, eight-lane Delhi-Gurgaon expressway will reduce the travel time between Delhi and Gurgaon to about 20 minutes.
Protestors placed a ribbon across the barricaded Palam flyover and cut it themselves. Kaul said: “We the people of Delhi cut this ribbon and pronounce this flyover inaugurated in the name of the common man”.
Authorities said that selection of a “suitable guest” was one among the “formalities” holding up the opening of the completed expressway.
“We know about the protest but there was no vandalism on the expressway. I can only say that it will open soon. I am not in a position to give any definite date for it,” a National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) official said.
“After construction was completed there were a lot of formalities. Some have been completed and some are pending,” the official said, adding, “selection of a suitable guest to open the expressway is one of the formalities.”
The expressway will not be open to two-wheelers, three-wheelers and all slow-moving traffic, which will have to take the adjoining service lane. It will also reduce travel time to the Indira Gandhi International Airport.