Dwarka expressway homebuyers write to political parties seeking support

Home buyers of the decade-long stalled Dwarka Expressway project on Friday wrote to three major political parties seeking their stand on the stalled project. The letters were addressed to the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The Dwarka Expressway Welfare Association (DXPWA), which represents 175 presidential societies with 1,35,000 homes, sent these letters.

This comes a day after senior members of the association met with the Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari to discuss the issue regarding the delay of approvals from the Delhi government to the centre for the Delhi package of the expressway over felling of trees.

The Delhi side involves the construction of an underground tunnel and a surface road that requires the felling and transplantation of at least 13,000 trees.

“ As aggrieved home buyers, commuters, and stakeholders to the benefits of the expressway, we would like all parties and the government to come clean on the issues and the bottlenecks confronting the project,” the letter said.

Hindustan Times had earlier reported that in a meeting called by the Union minster earlier, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had agreed to provide land to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for compensatory afforestation and transplantation of trees.

However, the land earmarked for compensatory afforestation was not preferred by the forest department, which has been apprehensive in granting permission to the Delhi package of the expressway, since the project requires the felling or transplantation of more than 13,000 trees.

“When we highlighted that Delhi minister Satyender Jain conveyed to us a week back that he wanted the Union minister to speak with the CM to resolve the issue, he called up the CM who assured that he will soon resolve the matter,” said Prakhar Sahay, joint secretary, DXPWA.