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Gurgaon e-way project now under Parliament panel lens
The 27.7-km-long Delhi-Gurgaon expressway (DGE) is under the scanner again. The Parliamentary Committee on Public Undertaking (CoPU) will examine all issues, including safety aspects, related to the high-speed corridor. The stretch has claimed over 100 lives since it was thrown open to the public in January 2008.
The parliamentary panel comprising 22 sitting MPs from both Houses will examine the project from Wednesday. At least two members and chairman of the committee V Kishore Chandra S Deo confirmed the meeting. "We can't disclose anything. But we will be looking into all aspects related to this stretch," Deo told Times City.
Officials of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also confirmed that its chairman and other concerned officials would participate in the meeting. "What we have understood so far is that the committee members can ask anything about the expressway project, which has been in the news since it was opened,'' said a senior NHAI official.
Alleged deficiency of services, inadequate safety measures and non existent service roads on certain stretches of the expressway have already come under scanner of the director general of investigation and registration (DGIR), a wing of the fair trade regulator MRTPC. It has sent a notice of inquiry to all stakeholders NHAI, private operator DSC Ltd and departments concerned of the Delhi and Haryana governments.
Sources said the committee would also take up issues related to safety on national highways and progress of projects.
On the DGE, NHAI officials alleged that the developer was still struggling to manage the congestion at the 32-lane toll plaza on the Delhi-Gurgaon border. Although on its website DSC Ltd maintained that the expressway was a fully access controlled highway project, two and three-wheelers have been on a free run on the stretch so far. "No segregation of high speed and slow moving traffic results in more confusion. There is no implementation of rules,'' said Bhawani S Tripathy, a resident of Gurgaon and a daily commuter.
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