National

SC directs NHAI to open Eastern Peripheral Expressway before May 31

The Supreme Court today directed the National Highways Authority Of India (NHAI) to ensure that the newly constructed Eastern Peripheral Expressway, which is aimed at decongesting Delhi, is inaugurated on or before May 31.

The apex court took exception to the 135-km Expressway, which envisages signal-free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal, not being thrown open to the public despite being informed earlier that it would be inaugurated by April 20.

A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta made it clear that if the Eastern Peripheral Expressway was not inaugurated on or before May 31, it would be thrown open for public use as the national capital was already under traffic distress.

The NHAI counsel told the court that the expressway was scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 29 but it could not be done due to his prior commitments.

The Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways were planned in 2006 following the top court’s order to build a ring road outside the national capital for channelling non-Delhi bound traffic.

The counsel appearing for the Haryana government told the bench that 81 per cent work of the 135-km Western Peripheral Expressway was done and the private entity involved in the work had assured that construction would be completed by June 30 this year.

According to the timeline, work on the Western Peripheral Expressway, which connects Kundli to Palwal via Manesar in Haryana, was to be completed by February 2019 but the construction would be done by June this year, the counsel said.

The apex court had asked the Centre in 2005 to build a peripheral expressway around Delhi by July 2016 to decongest and “de-pollute” the national capital.

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Akhilesh Yadav To Run For UP Elections, His First State Battle: Sources

Aleesha Sam

Lucknow: Akhilesh Yadav, after much delay, has decided to contest the Uttar Pradesh election, according to NDTV report. He had earlier said he would not contest the polls and would prefer to focus on every seat in the state.

Akhilesh Yadav is the Lok Sabha MP from Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh and has never contest a state election. His seat has not been decided yet, sources say.

According to media sources it is said the pressure was on the Samajwadi Party chief and former Chief Minister after the BJP’s Yogi Adityanath, the incumbent Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, decided to contest the state polls for the first time.

Yogi Adityanath will contest from Gorakhpur Sadar in eastern UP and the BJP assesses big gains in this region by fielding the priest-politician, who is the head of the influential Gorakhpur Mutt.

According to media sources, Akhilesh Yadav may pick a seat either from eastern UP or a central constituency like the high-profile Lucknow. Contesting from more than one seat is also on the table.

Reports of Akhilesh Yadav contesting the election come a day his sister-in-law Aparna Yadav is tipped to join the BJP in Delhi, going in the opposite direction after several key backward caste leaders from the BJP switched to the Samajwadi Party recently.

In November, Akhilesh Yadav had told reporters he would not contest the election. But his party rushed to clarify that such a decision had yet to be taken by the party.

“I will not be contesting the assembly election myself,” the Samajwadi MP had been quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

In 2012, when he led the Samajwadi Party to a big victory in UP, he took over as the country’s youngest Chief Minister at 38. He was a Lok Sabha MP from Kannauj at the time.

Later, he took the route of the state Legislative Council. His wife Dimple Yadav was elected unopposed from the seat he vacated, Kannauj.

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