Swansong for NH 44

H. Kishie Singh 

How long does it take to build a road in India? The road in question being NH 1... That was the opening paragraph of a column I wrote on July 12, 2015. My daughter had also made this observation on her return from Canada and I had quoted her in an article in February 2006.

This question needs an answer and I fear it may be at least another 13 years before you get an answer. So, in 13 years, there seems to have been little or no progress. The road is in a deplorable state. To begin with, it is now NH 44. It has been demoted to NH 44 from NH1. India’s most important and famous highway for over 500 years is a disaster way. That is the word I had used in 2015.

The ‘tamasha’ that we call driving has assumed alarming proportions.  There is no patrolling. Where is the NHAI Police? 

Heavy trucks hog the extreme right hand lane, known as the fast lane. No one to inform or challan them. Not a single sign saying ‘Keep Left’. 

It is most interesting to note that the minute these very vehicles enter Delhi, they drive in the extreme left hand lane, which is the rule. If Delhi can enforce this rule why not the NHAI? Incompetence? Dereliction of duty? Laggards? No accountability, so why bother!

Sher Shah Suri took credit for the road being tree lined and shady to provide the traveller respite from the burning Indian sun. During widening of the road, trees were cut down. Not a single tree has been replaced.  The central divider is a dirty, dusty strip. No guard rails, not a thought for safety. 

There is no guard rail on the off side to make this a dedicated highway. Fuel stations, educational and religious institutions and residential high-rise buildings are almost touching the road. High-rise apartment blocks will have thousands of residents who will inhale the most noxious fumes day in and day out, promising an early death. The high rises make a concrete canyon and the joy of driving through Haryana’s green fields has been lost forever!

The Panipat-Delhi stretch is a ‘suicide alley’, so dubbed by the foreigners who participated in The Himalayan Rally years ago. No white lines painted on the road. No road rules followed. In 2012, the Yamuna Expressway was opened to the public. RITES, Rail India Technical and Economic Services, certified the Expressway for ride quality, surface texture, structure were as per standard, it said. 

There is no way NH 44 can meet any of these standards. The car behaves like a small row boat on a choppy sea. In spite of 40 degree Celsius plus temperatures, the expansion joints on the flyovers have not joined up. The car sets up a rhythmic thud- thud as the car jumps over the expansion joints.

The newest danger is a 22-wheeler truck, over 10 metres long. Its ‘passing load’ is 80 tons. Rest assured, it’s overloaded. So expect a 100-ton juggernaut. Two or three drive nose to tail so to overtake be ready for a sprint of 30-40 metres! Are the roads, bridges and flyovers being built for these behemoths? They didn’t exist when they started building these roads?

The chaos, confusion, carnage continues.  

Happy Motoring!