Politicians and government authorities in the national capital got to experience the power of people when commuters, tired of waiting for a VVIP decided to take things into their own hands.
DELHI: Politicians and government authorities in the national capital got to experience the power of people first hand recently when commuters, tired of waiting for a VVIP to inaugurate an expressway long ready for service, decided to take things into their own hands.
The expressway, supposed to reduce the travel time between Delhi and Gurgaon to about 20 minutes, was completed on December 28 and preparations were on to welcome UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was scheduled to inaugurate it on January 1.
It would have been an ideal New Year gift to the harried commuters facing traffic snarls on the route for years. But after Gandhi was admitted to hospital with a chest infection, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) decided to put off the inauguration.
Irate commuters tired of endless traffic jams and the long wait for a VVIP to “be free” to inaugurate the expressway decided they had had enough. All it took to rid them of their troubles was a red ribbon and a pair of scissors. And voila the expressway was made available for service, “in the name of the common man”, on Monday.
Ideally, this is where things should have ended. But the NHAI decided to play spoilsport, insisting that only a VVIP could inaugurate the expressway, and this unprecedented “people’s inauguration” had no meaning.
But to the shock of the NHAI, their long search for a VVIP doesn’t seem to be yielding results. An NHAI official said, “Seeing the fury of the commuters who inaugurated the flyover, no politician is willing to risk re-inaugurating the 27.7-km expressway.”
However, despite the high drama, NHAI officials and contractors DS Constructions have refused to allow traffic on the expressway. “Safety concerns are being addressed before opening the expressway to public, but I am not in a position to give any definite date for it,” an NHAI official said.
y_puneet@dnaindia.net
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