The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said on Friday (29 October) that the Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME) at UP-Gate will be opened for commuters only after the assessment of the condition of the expressway, which is currently occupied by the protesting farmers.
“The road will be open to commuters only after we assess the damages and take up road repairs and maintenance work. In the past, we have already apprised the Ghaziabad authorities in writing about the lack of maintenance resulting from the farmers’ protest at the expressway. The assessment will be taken up once the farmers vacate the roads,” said Mudit Garg, project director of NHAI.
“There has been damage to electricity cables; there has been no maintenance and inspection of the UP-Gate flyover due to the ongoing protest. During monsoon, the roads were flooded due to blocked drainage systems. It has been almost 11 months now that we are facing these issues,” he added.
Hindustan Times reports that its team visited the expressway and found cracks on the surface at the UP-Gate flyover.
The protesting farmers have occupied the road at UP Gate and the Ghaziabad-Delhi carriageway since December. They have erected mini settlements on roads with tents and dais.
On the other hand, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Friday (29 October) issued a statement appealing to farmers to reach the UP-Gate protest site in large numbers to strengthen the agitation and announced that the protest site will continue.
The 82-kilometre long Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) connects Delhi with Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh (UP). A sum of Rs 8,346 crore is spent on the project.