CHANDIGARH: Delhiites can breathe and drive with some ease from Monday onwards as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 83-km Kundli-Manesar stretch of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway in neighbouring Gurugram.With more than 50,000 trucks, which are among the major polluting vehicles, bypassing Delhi on its western border, green advocates expect a discernible drop in the levels of air pollution in the National Capital.
In fact, Modi himself drew the notice of the crowds about the KMP Expressway’s benefit to Delhi while addressing Jan the Vikas Rally at Gurgram’s Sultanpur village. “This expressway will also help reduce pollution in Delhi and neighbouring areas to a great extent,” he said.
Vehicles heading to other states will now no more need to enter Delhi, he said, adding it would considerably reduce the number of vehicles in the National Capital. “I congratulate the people of Haryana and Delhi-NCR. Now, a network of nearly 270 km of expressways around Delhi is complete.”
The Monday’s inauguration also means that the completion of the entire stretch of the KMP Expressway. The first stretch from Manesar to Palwal (52 km) was inaugurated in April 2016. Besides five state highways, the six-lane expressway is connected with four National Highways: NH-1 near Kundli; NH-10 near Bahadurgarh; NH 8 at Manesar and NH-2 near Palwal.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated the 3.2 km-long Ballabhgarh-Mujesar Metro rail link, which would facilitate travel for the people of Delhi, and Haryana. The Delhi Metro’s network now reached 317km. Ballabhgarh is now the fourth city in Haryana to get Metro connectivity.