As barricading goes, roads left in wreck, need major repairs
New Delhi: Even as the Delhi Police nearly cleared out its fortifications at the Tikri and Ghazipur farmers' protest sites with their JCB machines and cranes, they have left a trail of destroyed roads along the highways which will take time to repair — prompting the NHAI to raise concerns about the damage caused by the barricading and the protests.
The National Highways Authority of India has already written to the District Magistrates of both East Delhi and Ghaziabad, raising concerns of serious damage to the NH-9 there, which include tree bark cracks on the road along the protest site near Ghazipur.
In addition to temporary structures set up by the protesters — such as a stage and tents — all propped up by bamboo poles, the Delhi Police and district authorities had fortified the region by pouring concrete on the road, cementing nail plates to the road and also digging up the road in certain places. Moreover, with parts of the carriageway closed for nearly a year, no maintenance has been carried out on the road for nearly 11 months now.
As cops started clearing the protest areas the cracks and holes are visible-which needs to be repaired as conditions of roads are not in a good state, NHAI officials claimed.
The NHAI letter to authorities last month mentioned, "Due to the protest many cracks are visible on the highways, as many temporary constructions were made there. Due to the holes, rainwater entered into the bituminous layer- resulting in damage." It added, "Even the drainage spots have been blocked during the protest, which caused scattered water logging during the entire Monsoon on a single carriageway."
Further, the NHAI letter also claimed that the construction of the temporary toilets on the expressway also affected the bituminous layer of roads and caused damages and waterlogging.
When asked, the local residents also talked about some cracks are visible on the flyover at the farmer protest site near the UP gate at NH-9. But even as the Delhi Police back away some of their barricading, large parts of the road remain blocked due to farmers insisting on staying at the border protest site and commuters seeing no relief as yet.
While the jurisdiction of the roads near the border sites are distributed among the Delhi government's PwD and MCD authorities in some areas, there is yet to be any word on when the repairs on the roads can start and by when they can be safe for commuters again.
