The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) extension project from Dilshad Garden to New Bus Stand in Ghaziabad suffered a serious setback after the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) refused to issue the No Objection Certificate to carry out any construction activities on the stretch of GT Road. Due to this, the DMRC cannot start work from Mohan Nagar to Meerut Road tri-junction.
“We have requested NHAI to hand over the particular stretch to us so that we can carry out the work smoothly bypassing day-to-day hassles of rushing all the times to NHAI and Urban Development Ministry for clearances. In lieu of that, we offered to hand over the newly-built link Road, which is connecting NH-24 with H-58 at Meerut tri-junction from Pratap Vihar, to them. Although they have agreed in principal but this project would further take six to seven months,” said GDA secretary Ravendra Madhukar Godbole.
“We have raised our concern in the meeting with the GDA officials due to which our work is hampered. Involvement of multiple Ministries like Railway, Transport, Urban Development and NCR board, the documentation takes much time. The NHAI is rigid since the new link Road is not functional. So the NHAI NOC may come after March-April next year, causing setback to our work on the stretch between Mohan Nagar and Meerut tri-junction,” said Shishir Tyagi, the DMRC Project Engineer.
“We have laid down our condition and now the ball is in their court, the delay is not at our part, it is on GDA part. As soon as they would make the newly-built link Road and grade separator at Meerut tri-junction operational, we would issue NOC without further delay,” NHAI official told The Pioneer. “In the present circumstances, the NHAI would not be able to issue the NOC to the DMRC before March 2016. Hence the construction activities cannot be carried during this current year,” said Rajendra Tyagi, the social activist and the local municipal councillor.
Earlier, since all the powers were vested in Santosh Yadav as the chairman and vice-chairman, he was able to speed up the project at much higher speed. The project would definitely suffer a setback, added Tyagi. The 9.41-kilometre-long stretch would have eight stations — Shaheed Nagar Rajbagh, Rajendra Nagar, Shyam Park, Mohan Nagar, Arthala, Raj Nagar Extension and New Bus Stand.