Govt endangering lives of commuters by inaugurating 'incomplete' expressway: Congress

The Congress Monday accused the BJP-led central government of endangering the lives of commuters by inaugurating an "incomplete" expressway in Haryana for quick publicity during elections.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should order an inquiry and get the KMP Expressway completed first.

"PM Modi and CM Khattar are endangering the lives of thousands of commuters by illegally and forcibly inaugurating an incomplete KMP Expressway today.

"Will Modi-Khattar duo answer - No testing of KMP by engineers, illegally called as Partial COD (Commercial Operation Day); 3rd party consultant has refused to give 'completion certificate' and even HSIIDC refused to own responsibility for any mishap.

"Are you risking commuter lives only for quick publicity in the middle of elections and to benefit the private operator by Rs 26 crore a month. Modiji, you should cancel the inauguration, order an enquiry and get the KMP completed," he said in a series of tweets.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister inaugurated the Kundli-Manesar section of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Western Peripheral Expressway and blamed the previous Congress government for the delay in its completion.

Earlier this year, the Manesar-to-Palwal stretch of the KMP Expressway, the entire length of which is 135.65 km, was opened for the public, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on the occasion.

The length of the Kundli-Manesar stretch of the expressway is over 83 km. This stretch will have 14 major or minor bridges, 56 underpasses or agricultural vehicular underpasses, seven intersections and seven toll plazas.

The expressway will decongest the road traffic from Delhi, especially reducing the number of trucks entering the national capital, thus helping in reducing pollution.

The six-lane expressway passes through the Haryana districts of Gurugram, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Palwal and Mewat.

Notably, the original deadline for the completion of the KMP Expressway was June 2009. However, the project got mired in controversies and litigation, following which the deadline was extended on many occasions.

After inaugurating the expressway, Modi, while addressing a public gathering at Sultanpur village in Gurugram district, launched a scathing attack on the previous Congress-led regime, accusing it of delaying the project and saying it was a "case study" of how public money was wasted.

Meanwhile, Haryana Industries Minister Vipul Goel termed the allegation levelled by the Congress that the KMP Expressway was unsafe for commuters "irresponsible and ridiculous".

"Left to the Congress, the expressway would not have opened for yet another decade," he said.

The third-party safety auditor, in its report dated November 14, had found "the project road to be safe and reliable", Goel said, adding, "Further, after a review of this report, the independent consultant had also on November 17 recommended that the expressway could be opened to traffic."

The minister said both the third-party safety auditor and the independent consultant had recommended speed limits of 80 kmph for light vehicles and 60 kmph for heavy vehicles using the expressway "for the first month, to enable familiarisation of the road users with the entry and exit points at the interchanges".

The concessionaire was accordingly advised by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructural Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and provided with signboards projecting these speed limits, and marshals were deployed in sufficient numbers at the entry and exit points, Goel said in a statement.

"Surjewala should better devote his energies to introspection on the huge cost escalation due to the prolonged delay during the 10 years of the Congress government...," he added.

The project would provide high-speed connectivity between northern and southern Haryana and provide an uninterrupted, high-speed link for traffic, especially commercial traffic, from Haryana to the neighbouring states, a spokesperson of the Haryana government said.

The 83-km Kundli-Manesar stretch of the expressway was completed four months ahead of the revised deadline, he added.