Road widening work stopped as villagers protest for construction of underpass

Scores of villagers staging a sit-in protest for construction of a new underpass in Dasna here stopped a road widening work by NHAI Saturday.

Led by Dhaulana BSP MLA Aslam chaudhary, the villagers of Dasna Masuri are seeking construction of the underpass in front of a mosque.

MLA Chaudhary said the sit-in protest will continue till the underpass is sanctioned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

On the sixth day of their protest on Saturday, the villagers forcibly stopped the road widening work near Dasna.

The MLA said the intersection near the mosque in Dasna is the busiest and important one for the villagers.

Officials of the NHAI had sought seven days' time to "think over" the villager's demand. The NHAI is said to have proposed constructing a foot over bridge (FOB). But villagers said the FoB cannot serve their purpose.

The general manager and project director of NHAI in Ghaziabad, R K Singh, said the area already has two underpasses and claimed that the construction of third one within the distance would go against norms.