india

Updated: Jul 24, 2019 05:54 IST

The movement of heavy vehicles on the Hero Honda Chowk flyover from Jaipur to Delhi shall remain restricted at night till repair work on the road surface is carried out as per the recommendations of a three-member technical committee.

Officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Tuesday said that they have stopped the movement of heavy trucks and multi-axle vehicles from 11pm to 5 am to prevent any further damage to the road surface.

The restriction on the movement of heavy vehicles began last week, said officials of the Millenium City Expressway Private Limited(MCEPL), which is the concessionaire for the highway.

“We had, in fact, requested the traffic police to stop the movement of heavy vehicles even during the day till the repair work is carried out. However, due to issues of congestion and traffic movement, it was decided to implement the suggestion at night,” said Ashok Sharma, project director, Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

The Gurugam traffic police said that traffic restriction on heavy vehicles was not causing any congestion or jams during the night.

“The traffic movement is stopped by NHAI officials during the night. However, no congestion or jams have been reported because of this restriction,” said inspector Azad Singh, traffic-in-charge, Hero Honda Chowk.

The Hero Honda Chowk flyover was damaged on May 8 this year after chunks of concrete fell down and a hole emerged in the surface of the road.

Taking cognisance of the matter, the highway authority formed a three-member committee, which is presently looking into the damage to the surface deck. The same part of the flyover was damaged on April 24 last year when chunks of concrete fell off surface the road.

Sharma told HT that the committee has received the test reports and is examining the results. “The report and recommendations are likely to be received in the next 15 days after a thorough analysis. A permanent solution to the problem will be found soon,” he said.

The 1.4-km-long Hero Honda Chowk flyover was constructed at the cost of ₹197 crore and became operational in 2017.

The NHAI had roped in experts from IIT, Bombay, to study the damages when these happened for the first time in April last year. However, the road was repaired two months later in June on the recommendations of experts, who had described the problem as a localised one.

The Gurugram Police had also registered a case against unnamed NHAI officials and the contractor for the damage caused to the flyover under sections 336 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).

A complaint in this regard was also lodged by Ramesh Kumar, a Gurugram-based Right to Information(RTI) activist.