Nitin Gadkari unhappy with road-side facilities on Delhi-Meerut Expressway
- The Delhi-Meerut Expressway was thrown open for public use from April 1.
- The expressway, pegged as a smart highway, also promises to offer state-of-the-art road-side facilities for commuters.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is not happy with the facilities available for commuters on the newly-inaugurated Delhi-Meerut Expressway. Gadkari even slammed the contractor tasked to provide road-side facilities on this smart highway for poor quality.
Gadkari was particularly disappointed with the toilet facilities provided by the side of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, which was thrown open for public use from April 1 this year.
Gadkari said, "There is one roadside amenity on Delhi-Meerut highway. I have seen the picture, I don't want to take the name of the contractor. But, the roadside amenity that he has constructed is so bad and dirty that one can't even use the toilet facility." He also said that he will take the contractor to task for building such poor infrastructure that no one would like to use.
The 82-km-long Delhi-Meerut expressway has 60 kms of expressway and 22 kms of national highway. The project has been developed at a cost of ₹8,346 crore. Facilities like ambulance, crane, petrol pump, restaurants, maintenance of vehicles shops have been developed for the convenience of commuting vehicles on the expressway.
Gadkari said, "People are happy with the Delhi-Meerut Express highway. Lots of people are thanking me." But he also reminded of the sections that are yet to reach the standard his ministry intends. He regretted that the Delhi-Meerut Highway contractors have failed to construct adequate roadside facilities where people can ease themselves.
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Besides such facilities, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway also has provisions for cyclists and pedestrians. There is over 2.5 meters cycle corridor and 2 meters-wide footpath alongside the roads on phase 1 and phase 2 of the expressway.
In all, more than 4,500 lights and cameras have been installed on the entire road for the safety of commuters. It will also introduce Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cum FASTag based Multi Lane Free Flow Tolling System for the first time. This will help deduct user fees for the highway without stopping vehicles at toll gates to ensure free flow of high speed traffic.