DME turns freeway for traffic violators
GHAZIABAD: The Delhi-meerut Expressway (DME) stretch in Ghaziabad is not a smooth ride for many — illegally parked vehicles and those driving on the wrong side pose a risk to even the most careful of drivers.
On Monday night, five persons, including two minors, died after their car collided with a truck that was being driven on the wrong side of the road on phase 4 of the DME near Masuri. Despite the 38 CCTV cameras on the stretch, no one stopped the errant driver.
Commuters said that considering the many traffic violations that happen on a daily basis, the expressway seems to have lost sight of safety in pursuit of highspeed connectivity.
“Traffic violations are rampant, and commuters have to remain cautious while driving. The authorities have basically failed to rein in violators and creating a smooth driving environment for commuters. If such conditions prevail, the DME will lose the very reason that it was constructed for,” said Rajendra Tyagi, councillor from Raj Nagar.
An HT team on Wednesday found traffic plying on the wrong side of the expressway at Lal Kuan intersection, which is a major traffic junction, near IMS Dasna and at the DME’S interchange with the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Dasna. Further, large commercial trucks parked at the DME near the interchange and posed a serious risk to fast moving vehicles.
One official from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), who did not wish to be named, said that on September 8, they detected over 2,000 violations of the speed limit on the DME and over half of them were by light motor vehicles that include cars, jeeps and vans. The speed limit on the DME in Uttar Pradesh is 100 kmph, while in Delhi it is 70kmph.
The NHAI, which built the project, said that nabbing violators and penalising them is the responsibility of the local traffic police.
“On our part, we deployed 10 marshals on phase 4 (32km of DME from Dasna to Meerut) to check errant vehicles but they can only request the drivers to follow the rules. The authority to penalise such violators and seize their vehicle rests with the traffic police. Our surveillance cameras often detect speeding vehicles and wrong side driving,” said Mudit Garg, project director, NHAI.
Phase 4, which is a six-lane dedicated access-controlled expressway, is under the Ghaziabad traffic police.
The Ghaziabad traffic police officers said while they do penalise offenders, the pending work on the expressway gives an opportunity to drivers to break the law.
“We do deploy traffic personnel on the expressway. But the pending work on the expressway deters us from keeping drivers in check. There are still gaps in the surveillance system. For example, Monday’s incident happened after the truck driver drove on the wrong side. But despite checking CCTV cameras, we could not find from where the truck entered the expressway. Further, the tolls on the DME are still not operational; that means we don’t have staff on the ground who can check violations,” said Ramanand Kushwaha, superintendent of police (traffic).