Union Minister of State of Corporate Affairs; Road, Transport and Highways Harsh Malhotra on Saturday made a site visit to review the progress of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway.

Malhotra made the site visit along with Member of Parliament Manoj Tiwari, Member of Legislative Assembly Mohan Singh Bisht & Area Councilors of Municipal Corporation of Delhi and National Highways Authority of India officials on Saturday.

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The minister also inspected National Highway 709B to address the water logging issue and other issues related to stretches on this National Highway.

The site visit started from Geeta Colony near ‘shamshan ghat’ of the NH-709B and continued to Sonia Vihar and Sabhapur village.

Malhotra expressed satisfaction with the progress of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway and stated that the expressway would be instrumental in decongesting East Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar area and would also reduce the load on Delhi-Meerut Expressway.

He directed timely completion of the Expressway so that it would be opened for the general public as per the schedule.

Regarding waterlogging on National Highway-9, NHAI officials informed that there is a parallel master drain of MCD/PWD alongwith the NH which is stagnated and over flooded for many years. Further, the surface drain of NH is also connected to the parallel master drain for disposal of surface water of the highway portion.

Since the parallel master drain of MCD/PWD is stagnated, the surface water of NH instead of going into the master drain (which is already flooded because of stagnation and limited capacity) hits back and floods the service road of NHAI.

The minister directed the NHAI officials to take up this issue with MCD/PWD for taking necessary action by them.

Malhotra took cognizance of the issues raised by the residents at the spot and directed the NHAI officials to ensure speedy progress of the developments while ensuring that the works do not cause any sort of problems to the local residents. He directed to provide two additional U-turn to provided necessary access on both sides to LMVs in the proximity of two U-turns which have already been proposed near shamshan ghat Geeta colony, Delhi (one near elevated flyover and one near existing flyover).

The minister also assured the public that a green belt area would be developed underneath the flyover which would in turn be a boon for the environment.

In response to the request of Sonia Vihar residents for shifting of toll plaza, Malhotra assured that the toll plaza would be shifted 300 meters towards Uttar Pradesh to ensure that local residents of Sonia Vihar, Delhi do not pay any toll tax. The Minister also assured that the drain from Uttar Pradesh side would be rechanelised.

In Sabhapur village, the minister directed the NHAI officials for quick resolution of the water logging issues and to ensure that the work starts from today itself.

Directions were also given to the officials for reviewing the pipelines there and resolve the issues as soon as possible.

The minister further assured that the service road would be constructed so that the local residents do not face any hardship in commuting to nearby villages.