With the construction of the Dwarka Expressway running nearly seven years behind schedule, hundreds of flat owners in several housing developments coming up along the route have now moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking early completion of the road project.
The court has issued notices to the Haryana government as well as the Centre on the issue.
DXP Welfare Association, representing home buyers from over 20 housing projects, filed a civil writ petition on February 16 against Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Department of Town & Country Planning (DTCP), Haryana.
‘Court should monitor’
The major demand of the association is for time-bound completion of the project and monitoring by the court.
The petitioners have also sought the overall status of External Development Charges and Internal Development Charges collected by the Haryana government for the development of basic infrastructure such as water, electricity and sewage across the expressway.
The association’s lawyer Amish Tandan said that the court, after hearing the submissions, issued notices to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, HUDA, the NHAI and the Department of Town and Country Planning. “The association approached me after they did not get any satisfactory response from the authorities concerned despite raking up the issue at various levels,” said Mr. Tandan.
The association’s general-secretary Pradip Rahi said: “The home buyers don’t see the seriousness of government authorities towards resolving the issues to complete the road. The situation on the ground remains the same even after declaring it as a National Highway a year ago. Till now the allocation of a highway number has not been done and even the Detailed Project Report is not ready, which is the most essential document to start the work.”
‘Disappointed, betrayed’
The angry home buyers have held several protests over the past one year to highlight the failure of the State and Central governments to complete the road.
The protesters also held a havan on the site in October last year seeking divine intervention for the early completion of the project.
The association’s vice-president Komal Ahuja said that their members were meeting the NHAI and HUDA officials on a regular basis, however, authorities didn’t seem committed to complete the road as per the deadlines given and this had left them “disappointed and betrayed”.
Delhi portion of e-way
A senior NHAI official, on condition of anonymity, said that the process to acquire land for the 9km-stretch in Delhi had already begun and was likely to be completed by mid-2017, but it might take another two years for the construction to be completed.
“So far as the 18km-stretch of the Dwarka Expressway in Gurugram is concerned, we had conducted an inspection on February 17 and found that the HUDA is yet to remove the structures falling in the alignment of the road. We have told them to clear the land to pave way for preparation of the Detailed Project Report. At present the road in Gurugram is six lanes, but we plan to make it 12 lanes,” said the official, involved with the project.
Possession letters
HUDA administrator (Gurugram), Yashpal Yadav, told The Hindu that 60-odd oustees were given possession letters for alternative plots and another draw for 50-odd oustees was scheduled for Tuesday.
“But a case pertaining to 70-odd oustees holding General Power of Attorney is still in the court. The matter will be sorted out after the court verdict only. We are still in process of removing the structures on the alignment of the road,” said Mr. Yadav.
