The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has requested the Noida administration to ensure a ban on slow-moving vehicles like bikes, autos and e-rickshaws on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), saying they increased the chances of accidents during winter.
Although these vehicles are already banned on the EPE, they have a free run because of a lack of enforcement.
Assistant RTO Udit Narayan Mishra confirmed his department had received a letter from NHAI. “We will come out with a plan and deploy teams at the loops of EPE to ensure slow moving vehicles are stopped,” he said.
The 6-lane EPE was built in 2018 to connect Kundli with Palwal, bypassing Delhi. The speedway passes through Baghpat, Ghaziabad and Noida. While cars are allowed to clock a maximum of 120kmph, buses can ply at 100kmph and trucks at 80kmph.
Officials said since bikes and autos couldn’t keep up with the speed of other vehicles, they were often involved in accidents. The flyway, which is fully access-controlled with cement concrete roads, has nine toll plazas from Kundli to Palwal – Jakhauli (Kundli), Mawaikalan, Duhai, Rasoolpur, Dasna, Bilakbarpur, Rampur, Maujpur and Chhaju Nagar in Palwal.
Anil Kumar Yadav, the DCP (traffic), agreed that cops would be deployed at the entry points.
Arvind Kumar, the NHAI project director, said they had issued multiple letters to the administrations in Noida and Ghaziabad, but to no avail.
“In Ghaziabad, the movement of slow vehicles is checked somewhat on the expressway. But in Noida, bikes and autos ply in large numbers. On Friday, we held a meeting with the officials concerned and asked them to ensure its strict compliance,” he added.
In Ghaziabad, 102 people died and 122 were injured in 166 accidents on EPE and Delhi Meerut Expressway last year.
It was in 2018 that the ministry of road transport and highways issued a notification banning slow-moving vehicles on the EPE. “This expressway has been developed as a high-speed corridor. The movement of high-speed vehicles may pose a risk to the safety of certain classes of comparatively slow-moving vehicles like two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and other slow-moving vehicles like non-motorised vehicles and tractors. Therefore, such vehicles are prohibited from using the EPE,” it said.
The notification pointed out there were alternative routes available for autos, bikes and other such vehicles, even before EPE was developed.
Slow vehicles, except bikes, are also banned on the Noida and Yamuna expressways.
