New road to link KGP e-way, Aligarh road

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Palwal, May 27

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will acquire 24 acres to connect the Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) expressway and the Aligarh-Palwal highway in the district.

The demand for a link to the highway before Kuslipur village, the last point on the KGP expressway located about 15 km from Palwal, had been accepted by Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi last month.

Palwal MLA Karan Singh Dalal said a meeting of farmers in Pelak village, whose land would be acquired for the project, was held on Sunday.

The Congress MLA, who attended the meeting, said all farmers concerned had agreed to the acquisition proposal. He said the farmers were likely to get at least Rs20 lakh per acre as compensation.

Describing the proposed link as the lifeline of Palwal, he said thousands of vehicles would not have to pass through the town to travel from the Aligarh road to the expressway.

Terming the link as the first such point of access, Dalal said it would save both fuel and time of a large number of commuters.

He demanded a provision for payment of royalty to farmers whose land had been acquired for the KGP. He pointed out that this was being paid to farmers whose land had been acquired for the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway.

Kishore Kanyal, NHAI project director, said toll would not be charged till June 15. He said traffic was opened on the KGP expressway on Sunday evening.

Pelak sarpanch Bhagwat raised the issue of lack of passages along the KGP highway. He said farmers would be inconvenienced as underpasses did not have connecting passages.

Around 550 acres had been acquired for the expressway in Palwal and Faridabad districts. The link in Faridabad district was located near Maujpur village, about 15 km from Ballabgarh.