The 4.5 km stretch of Sector 49-Dadri road, the only alternative to the Expressway, which connects Greater Noida and Noida, is under the grip of heavy encroachment. Nearly half the road space on both sides has been eaten up by the local shopkeepers and vendors. The stretch is used by the motorists on their way to Delhi from Greater Noida.
The commuters blamed concerned officials for their lackadaisical response and accused a nexus between the vendors and local police of not taking appropriate steps to evict encroachers.
The traffic movement on the 30-metre wide road always gets affected as the local people sell their products on the road and the costumers park their vehicles haphazardly on the road leading a traffic chaos throughout the day. The local people have also made six cuts on the road adding traffic woes. Nearly 50,000 vehicles pass through this road daily which takes around two hours instead of 30 minutes while crossing the road. The situation becomes worse during the peak hours as the traffic movement comes to a standstill.
looking at the problems of daily commuters, the Noida police have approached Noida Authority to remove the encroachment on this road. The city police have decided to start a special drive with the help of Noida Authority against encroachers from the next week. Orders have issued to shop owners to remove their illegal constructions to avoid penal action, police said. “We have written the Authority to start a special drive so the road could be freed. We have also sought help from traffic department and if require we will not hesitate to take penal action against the owners of those shops, which have encroached the road,” said RK Mishra, Circle Officer-III, Noida.
A senior official of the Noida Authority lamented the fact that despite their repeated attempts to remove the encroachment, things were back to square one. The onus to maintain the road free from encroachers rests with the law enforcement agencies but they are not performing their tasks accordingly. “It is the traffic police, which should maintain the smooth flow of traffic on the road. However, not traffic cop is visible at any point of the road causing a traffic mess,” said MP Sharma,” the circle in-charge of the area.
On the other hand, the traffic officials say that they cannot do more owing to their limitation. They can only help in ensuring smooth flow of traffic though the encroachment is the prime concern here. “As we have no rights to take action against squatters, we cannot force them to remove their shops. We can only help in reducing the jam on the road,” said MP Singh, Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Noida.