In a recent development in the legal tangle HUDA is caught in over the removal and re-allotment of a petrol pump on MG Road, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been asked to join them in their fight. According to HUDA, the removal of the pump is necessary to make way for an underpass at Iffco Chowk.
HUDA had allotted an alternative site for the petrol pump in Sector 42 on Golf Course Road, which is close to a mall. But the management of the mall has moved local court against the allotment. The issue has been pending in court for the past two months now.
Chander Shekhar Khare, HUDA, Gurgaon administrator, said, “We had a discussion about this with NHAI officials three days ago. It is our outmost priority to shift the petrol pump and hand over the land to NHAI for the construction of the underpass. The next hearing at the local court is on April 4."
"If needed, NHAI will join the legal battle, but a solution needs to be found at the earliest,” said a senior NHAI official on condition of anonymity.
The development comes just days before Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is to visit Gurgaon on March 31, when he is expected to discuss the MG Road petrol pump issue, among other things. Khattar has reviewed the shifting of the petrol pump thrice in the past nine months with the local administration.
On January 22, while inaugurating two underpasses at Signature Tower and Rajiv Chowk, Khattar had directed HUDA to remove the petrol pump in seven days.
NHAI is constructing an L-shaped underpass at Iffco Chowk to allow commuters from the Metro station to head towards Delhi via Sikanderpur without merging with the local traffic. This is expected to reduce the jams at the junction, which has emerged as one of city’s biggest bottlenecks in the past five years.
