‘Accidents rise on Delhi-Gurgaon expressway’
April 13th, 2012 - 12:03 am ICT by IANSNew Delhi, April 12 (IANS) The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Thursday told the Delhi High Court that there has been marked increased in the number of accidents on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway since the time it was opened.
The highway authority blamed the Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd’s (DGSCL), which operates the expressway between the capital and the Haryana city, for the increased number of accidents. It also alleged that DGSCL is only interested in earning revenue from the highway and failed to curb the accidents.
The NHAI has claimed that in the month of Jan 2012, a total of 232 accidents have taken place on the highway.
The highway authority further claimed that from the year 2008, when the highway started, till date - around 4,000 accidents have taken place and the number has been increasing with the passing year.
“The DGSCL was found to be failing in promoting the use of tags, controlling of the queues, uncooperative in the rescue and relief in the case of accidents and was only interested in earning revenue from the highway,” the NHAI said in its reply.
The highway authority further alleged: “The petitioner (DGSCL) has indulge in the serious and grave irregularities/defaults in performance of its obligations under the concession agreements, which caused great discomfort and inconvenience to the general public, besides causing accidents and lack of traffic/incident management systems leading to massive agitations at the project site.”
A bench of Justice S. Muralidhar extending the stay on the NHAI decision to terminate the DGSCL contract to operate the expressway, posted the matter for May 21.
The relation between the two parties turned sour after the NHAI accused DGSCL of fraud in the form of refinancing the project without getting its approval.
The highways authority, while ordering termination of its deal with the private firm, had accused it of failure to improve services at the 32-lane toll plaza.
The DGSCL had approached the Delhi High Court after the NHAI had issued a preliminary termination notice to it on Dec 7 last year, and sought court’s direction to restrain the highways authority from taking any coercive action against it.
- NHAI, private firm settle Gurgaon toll plaza issue - Jul 05, 2012
- Considering out-of-court solution on expressway: NHAI - Aug 06, 2012
- NHAI, Gurgaon expressway operator get time for talks - Aug 30, 2012
- Court restrains NHAI on contract termination - Mar 02, 2012
- DGSCL files contempt petition against NHAI - Mar 27, 2012
- NHAI, Gurgaon expressway operator settle dispute (Lead) - Sep 18, 2012
- Operator charges toll at two Gurgoan plazas - Sep 05, 2012
- Jam free traffic promised on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway - Sep 19, 2012
- No toll on Delhi-Gurgaon expressway for 15 days: Court - Sep 04, 2012
- Top cop who took on Gurgaon toll plaza transferred - Sep 18, 2012
- SC declines to interfere with expressway's toll order - Sep 12, 2012
- Two toll employees on Gurgaon Expressway held for extortion - Sep 21, 2012
- Toll rates hiked on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway - Apr 01, 2010
- Free ride on Gurgaon expressway till Sep 25 - Sep 20, 2012
- Protest in Chhattisgarh capital against toll plaza - Jan 11, 2012
Tags: accidents, bench, concession agreements, connectivity, delhi high court, failure, fraud, gurgaon, inconvenience, India, irregularities, management systems, national highways authority, New Delhi, nhai, petitioner, private firm, queues, reply, traffic incident management