HC scrutiny of land acquisition for Gurgaon peripheral road may delay construction

Irregularities in land acquisition for the connecting peripheral road (CPR) have come under the scrutiny of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, and the proceedings may delay its construction.

CPR is the last leg of the Northern Peripheral Road (NPR), also known as Dwarka Expressway, which is considered as the future lifeline of Delhi-NCR in terms of intra-city connectivity between East and West Gurgaon, and Delhi, Jaipur, Faridabad, Rewari and Pataudi.

The high court on Wednesday asked Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) to explain why the land for CPR and other roads in the area was acquired under the old Land Acquisition Act even though the new land acquisition law was in place.

The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013 (LARR) came into force on January 1, 2014.

Accepting its mistake, Huda administrator Yashpal Yadav said, “It was the department’s mistake to acquire land as per the old act after January 1, 2014. The department has rectified its mistake and appealed to the court to not quash the acquisition which would badly affect the CPR and other roads. The court sought an explanation and we have submitted it.”

A senior NHAIofficial told Hindustan Times, “We hope Huda will transfer land for CPR at earliest. The detailed project report of Dwarka Expressway is complete and we are awaiting land transfer for construction to start.”

Land litigation have been the biggest cause of inordinate delay in construction of the Dwarka Expressway.

Previously, the major hurdle appeared with regard to the CPR’s alignment a week ago after the Huda failed to remove high tension electricity wires in a 600-metre portion of CPR and transfer the land to the NHAI, as it wanted to start construction.

CPR is better known as last leg of the 28-km-long NPR, which is to connect NH-48 near Kherki Daula from Shiv Murti near Mahipalpur. In July, the NHAI had written to Huda to transfer land for CPR and cloverleaf construction.

CPR IS THE LAST LEG OF THE DWARKA EXPRESSWAY, WHICH IS CONSIDERED AS THE FUTURE LIFELINE OF DELHINCR ROADWAY