Shahdara hutment hurdle to be cleared for Chilla flyover

NOIDA: A 60-metre stretch next to the Shahdara drain is likely to disrupt work on the Chilla elevated corridor in the coming days. This is because the piling work on the said stretch could be stalled due to the presence of thousands of hutments, officials said.
Noida Authority is coordinating with the Delhi government to get the illegal encroachments cleared. However, TOI has learnt that a lot of families staying in these slums have got election and ration cards from Noida.A joint demolition exercise will have to be carried out to ensure work on the 5.96km-long elevated corridor continues without any hiccups, officials said.
In fact, the elevated corridor which will extend from Sector 14A to Sector 94 in Noida has been planned with multiple exit ramps. Aligned on the west side of the Shahdara drain, one of the exit ramps will connect the six-lane corridor to Maharaja Agrasen Marg. An exit ramp has to descend close to the DLF Mall of India in Sector 18 for the connectivity. Exit ramps have been planned at Udyog Marg, Sector 16 road and Sector 18 road.
However, the presence of dense hutments along the eastern banks of the drain have the potential of disrupting the timeline set by Noida Authority to execute the project. Over the past three decades, thousands of hutments have been converted into permanent structures with some spanning up to four floors.
“The drain comes under the purview of the Delhi government’s irrigation and flood control department. We will require their support to remove the illegal encroachment from the stretch,” said the official, who did not want to be identified. He insisted that the issue will not hamper the progress of the project and the deadline will be achieved since only three pillars will be required to come up on the left side of the drain.
The Noida Authority will seek support of the Delhi government to remove encroachments.
Twenty-two-years-old Rahul Gupta, who stays in the slum close to Udyog Marg, where another exit is proposed, said, “During the surveys, Noida Authority officials have visited the stretch. They said some pillars might have to be erected to support the exit ramp at Udyog Marg. But later we were told that our stretch will not be affected. But a lot of apprehension is brewing among residents about the future.”