Eastern Peripheral Expressway Opens For Public, To Decongest Delhi

Prime Minister has inaugurated the Eastern Peripheral Expressway on May 27, fifteen years from the date of announcement. The highway was completed in the record time of 17 months as the foundation stone was laid by PM in November 2015.

Recently, the Supreme Court has ordered National Highway Authority of India to open the Eastern Peripheral Expressway for public use by May 31. The expressway was scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 29 but it could not be done due to his unavailability. 

The road was announced 15 years ago and was stalled due to land acquisition issues at certain stretches. Earlier, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had told the Supreme Court (SC) that hurdles in the ongoing construction of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway have been resolved in a "satisfactory manner" in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and was expecting the inauguration by March-end but got delayed due to the pending finishing work.

The 135-km-long Eastern Peripheral Expressway envisages signal-free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal.

Earlier, in a status report filed in the apex court, the NHAI had said that construction work in Haryana was proceeding without any disruption, and the issue relating to handing over land of 0.5-km stretch in Sonipat district by the state government to the NHAI has been resolved.

"With regard to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in UP, the report states that there is still some disruption caused by persons whose lands have been acquired. However, it is now stated in court today that even this disruption has stopped and the construction is going on in a satisfactory manner," a Bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta noted in its order.

The Bench was also informed that some cases pertaining to non-distribution of land acquisition compensation were pending before the district court in Ghaziabad. The court requested to the district judge of Ghaziabad to take up these matters on a priority basis as soon as the NHAI approaches the court there.

The Uttar Pradesh government had earlier informed the top court that work on a 25-km stretch of the under-construction Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Ghaziabad, which was stalled following protests by farmers, had resumed.

Besides, the construction work on the 135-km long Western Peripheral Expressway, which connects Kundli to Palwal via Manesar in Haryana, is also in progress.

The court, which has been hearing a 1985 plea filed by environmentalist MC Mehta on various issues, including vehicular pollution, had asked the Centre in 2005 to build a peripheral expressway around Delhi by July 2016 to decongest and "de-pollute" the national capital.

The two expressways were planned in 2003 following the SC order to form a ring road outside Delhi for channeling non-Delhi bound traffic bypassing the national capital.

Impact on real estate

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway cuts through major national highways and runs radially on the eastern border of the national capital. For those traveling from western UP to areas in east and south Delhi, can take the EPE for a swift drive. While the impact of this smooth connectivity is yet to get visible on real estate prices, the asking values and demand have certainly gone up, if the market experts are to be believed. Areas in Noida Extension (Greater Noida West) and along Noida Expressway are more approachable from north and south Delhi because of the connectivity. 

With inputs from Housing News