The 10% constructed worth Rs 11,000 crore Eastern Peripheral Expressway, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 27, has been opened for public transport but it poses a threat to the lives of the people using it.
According to a GoNews report, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway was opened in a questionable hurry by the government only one day before the Kairana bypoll.
A portion of the 135-km-long Expressway was built in a record time of 17 months. “Construction machines can be seen plying on the road. The 10% constructed expressway is unsafe for the people using it. Vehicles can be seen plying to and fro on the same side of the divider. Electric wires are hanging low and loose,” says the news report.
The expressway becomes even more dangerous at night with heavy vehicles plying on it. Villagers living on either side of the expressway can be seen crossing the road freely in the absence of any fencing.
Moreover, the expressway is closed at several points and vehicles have to negotiate a turn abruptly to continue their onward journey on a wrong side.
The two expressways, Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways, were planned in 2005 on the Supreme Court’s order for channelling non-Delhi bound traffic with a view to decongest the national capital. Eastern Peripheral Expressway envisages providing signal-free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal, while the Western Expressway connects Kundli to Palwal via Manesar in Haryana.
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