Faridabad Rose Garden to make way for e-way

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, April 5

The Rose Garden built by the HSVP 40 years ago in the green belt adjoining Sector 17 here will make way for Rs3,580 crore Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

The garden has been included in the 70-m right-of-way (ROW) to be handed over to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the expressway passing through the city.

With almost 90 per cent area of the 4-acre garden coming under the expressway alignment, the work on the removal of trees and plants coming in the way has already been started.

“We are working on shifting the plants and infrastructure to other nurseries, green belt or available spots, as the place needs to be vacated or cleared up for the upcoming project,” said Naresh Singh, SDO (Horticulture), HSVP. Adding that this had been the only garden set up by the department, he said it had around 4,000 varieties of rose.

Though it is not clear how much money has been spent so far, officials concerned, however, admit the majority of the green belt adjoining Sectors 14, 17, 9 and 13 located adjacent to the bypass road is going to be merged into the 12-lane expressway.

Describing it as a direct and huge loss, Amarjit Singh, a resident of Sector 17, said the project would result in acute noise and air pollution. Charging the authorities of ignoring their interests, another resident Rakesh Kashyap said the garden and the green belt could have been spared if the alignment was done on the opposite side, which had no residential pocket.

While the NHAI has already started removing the green belt on the right side of the expressway (towards Palwal), the HSVP has been asked to provide ROW of 70 m on both sides of the present bypass highway. The expressway starts at the Ring Road-DND junction in New Delhi, passes through Faridabad to culminate at the Interchange junction at Mandkola village of Palwal. Its foundation was laid on March 1, 2019.