Residents of Raj Nagar Extension in Ghaziabad can finally experience a smooth ride to and from Delhi, with the Hindon elevated road finally being thrown open. It was inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today.
This six-lane road, which provides seamless connectivity between Delhi and Ghaziabad, has reduced travel time from nearly an hour to just a few minutes. City Spidey took a round trip on the road today, and clocked it at just 19 minutes.
The elevated road, which is 10.3 km long and built on 228 pillars, connects UP Gate to Rajnagar Extension and cost about Rs 1,146.60 crore. Apart from making travel between Delhi and Ghaziabad easier, it will also help commuters reach the Trans Hindon area and NH58 from NH24. About 4,000 vehicles are estimated to be using the elevated road every hour. However, as of now, only light motor vehicles will be allowed on the road.
Raj Nagar Extension residents are visibly excited about the road. “I travel to Pacific Business Park in Kaushambi every day. I normally face traffic snarls at Karhera bridge, Mohan Nagar and Hindon Barrage. But thanks to the elevated road, I will not have to face these snarls any more,” said Praveen Pradhan, an IT professional and resident of KW Srishti society.
However, Pradhan added that there was a possibility of a bottleneck near Karhera bridge, where the elevated road begins in Raj Nagar Extension. “Vehicles moving at high speed from Delhi will pile up at this point, as the road gets narrow here,” he said.
The construction of this road began in November 2014 during the tenure of the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh. SP leaders have always laid claim to the elevated road as their brainchild, and of course did not hold back from claiming their share of glory at the inauguration. Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party leader and previous UP chief minister, took a dig at the Yogi-led BJP governbment and tweeted in Hindi "Ram naam japna paraya maal apna", which roughly translates to "Chanting Ram’s name and taking credit for others' work". Yadav also pinned an earlier tweet that said, “To help ease traffic in Ghaziabad, we commissioned this elevated road which is over 9kms long and completing fast [sic].”
The elevated road was in the news earlier this month too, when it was forcibly thrown open by SP workers from Ghaziabad. Party workers, including member of legislative council Rakesh Yadav, cut a red ribbon, calling the project a brainchild of the erstwhile SP-led state government. An FIR was lodged against the involved SP workers by the Ghaziabad Development Authority, following which four party workers were arrested.
