CM Yogi opens India’s longest elevated road
Work on project was started in 2014 and completed in 2017 but was stuck due to several issues
GHAZIABAD: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday inaugurated a 10.3-km elevated road billed as the longest in the country, which will reduce travel time and increase commuting comfort for motorists to and from Delhi.
The Hindon elevated road provides a signal-free commute between Raj Nagar Extension, a residential area in Ghaziabad, and UP Gate on NH-24, near the Delhi border.
The six-lane road is built on 287 single pillars. It will act as a bypass for vehicles going to Meerut, Dehradun and Haridwar from Delhi.
Work on the project started in 2014 during the tenure of Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) government.The former UP chief minister aimed a barb on Twitter at Adityanath’s government for taking credit for a project that was conceived by his administration.
Adityanath inaugurated the road and also laid the foundation stone for infrastructure projects worth nearly ₹1,800 crore in Ghaziabad. At present, only light motor vehicles are being allowed to run on it. The ₹1,147-crore elevated road project is funded exclusively by the GDA, including a loan of ₹700 crore from the NCR Planning Board. GDA has been planning to charge toll from users to recover the road cost, but is yet to announce a decision. Yadav did not hold back during the CM’s visit on Friday. When Adityanath was addressing a public rally, Akhilesh retweeted an old message and wrote, “Ram Ram japna, paraya kaam apna,” indicating that he was taking credit for the Yadav administration’s work. “To help ease traffic in Ghaziabad we commissioned this elevated road which is over 9kms long and completing fast,” @yadavakhilesh had tweeted in August 2016.
The CM led a verbal attack on the previous regime during his address at the rally. He told the gathering that the road was completed within one year of his gov- ernment coming to power.
“The work for the road started in 2014 but it was left midway due to lack of environmental clearance and clearances from the railways. No permissions were taken. It had been a feature in previous governments to get their ‘cuts’ in projects and this led to delays. When we came to power, our representatives and General (retd) VK Singh started work from scratch and completed the road within one year,” Yogi said.
There has been a war of words between the SP and BJP over the biggest project.
On March 16, dozens of SP leaders had ‘inaugurated’ the Hindon elevated road, terming it a project of SP government and claiming they had the right to take credit for it. Following this, MLC Rakesh Yadav and other SP supporters were booked under stringent Indian Penal Code sections, including of attempt to murder. The project was scheduled to be completed in April 2017 but construction could be completed only in December 2017. Later, the road opening was delayed because of pending environment clearances.