Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday said the Centre is helping in a big way to decongest Delhi and make it a pollution-free city through various infrastructure projects, including a proposed elevated road from INA to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. After a meeting with Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Rekha Gupta said Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of projects worth `24,000 crore have been prepared. She said feasibility is also being assessed for a tunnel from Sarai Kale Khan to the IGI Airport. Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, Minister of State for Road Transport Harsh Malhotra and Delhi ministers were present at the meeting to review the progress of ongoing National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) projects in the national Capital. The Chief Minister shared that the NHAI has also approved road Overbridge (RoB) and Road Underbridge (RuB) projects worth `150 crore for the Capital. Projects worth `1.25 lakh crore have been carried out for Delhi and I am thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitin Gadkari for that, she said. She said that several key initiatives are being undertaken to decongest Delhi and make it pollution-free. These include the construction of an approximately seven-kilometre-long underground tunnel from Shiv Murti to Nelson Mandela Road; an elevated road from INA to the airport — which will later connect to Faridabad and Gurugram; the highway connecting Delhi to Katra and Amritsar, which will be linked to the Urban Extension Road (UER)-II; and the second extension of UER-II, which will connect Alipur to Tronica City and the Delhi — Dehradun route. These new routes will enable seamless travel between Haryana, Dehradun and Noida without the need to enter Delhi. A feasibility study is also underway for a tunnel from Sarai Kale Khan to IGI Airport. The Chief Minister stated that currently, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is implementing several projects in Delhi worth `35,000 crore. Earlier, projects worth `64,000 crore have already been completed. Additionally, DPRs (Detailed Project Reports) for upcoming projects worth `24,000 crore are already prepared and ready for execution. She also highlighted that a total of ` 1.25 lakh crore worth of decongestion projects has been initiated in Delhi by the Central Government. She informed that major roads — such as Rohtak Road, Punjabi Bagh to Nangloi, Ashram to Badarpur and MG Road — have now been handed over to NHAI. All these roads will be made signal-free and construction work will begin soon. She further stated that NHAI will now take full responsibility not only for the construction of roads but also for the development of proper drainage systems, side lanes, and necessary infrastructure. Earlier, such tasks were handled by multiple agencies, leading to issues like waterlogging and unconnected drainage. The Chief Minister expressed gratitude for a major connectivity initiative by which a roadmap will be constructed from Inderlok metro station and along the Munak Canal up to Sonipat, approximately twenty kilometres in length benefiting a large number of commuters between Haryana and Delhi which otherwise used to take only the highway from Azadpur via Mukarba Chowk. This will also lead to decongestion of major roads across Delhi and will benefit people of Western Delhi in particular. She informed that the DPR project will be prepared soon and NHAI will take up this project on priority. This will enable vehicles to reach Dehradun from Haryana and Noida without entering Delhi, Gupta said. The NHAI will develop a drainage system and service roads along these roads, the Chief Minister said. The NHAI is using inert waste to construct roads in Delhi, she said, adding that it will help clear the garbage mountains in the city. CM Gupta said the double-engine Government is benefitting the people of Delhi a great deal — a reference to the BJP being in power at the Centre as well as in the city.

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