Khabar Bureau 
NEW DELHI: Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has promised to provide 50 per cent relief from traffic congestion to Delhiites by August 15, the Independence Day.
“There will be 50 per cent less traffic jam and 50 per cent less pollution in Delhi by Independence Day. We are going to open Eastern Peripheral expressway for public before August 15,” said the minister at an event organised to celebrate three years of Modi government.

Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari also claimed that his ministry has set an all-time record of road construction with an average of 23 km per day in March this year. The ministry has set a world record by awarding contract of 16,800 km of roads for 2017-18.
As for solution to the traffic chaos prevailing in the National Capital, he said a state-of-the-art expressway, to be introduced for the first time in India will take care of it.
In this context, he said, “There will be no need of ‘odd and even’ scheme any more”.  
The environmental friendly expressway will have world-class safety measures, smart traffic management system and solar power systems. Launched on September 14, 2015, the expressway cost only around Rs 5,900 crore towards acquisition of land.
According to the officials, around nine million tone of environmentally hazardous fly ash produced by nearby NTPC thermal power plant has been used in road construction. The expressway will pass through Sonepat, Bagpat, Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Palwal diverting around two lakh vehicles from entering into Delhi.
“The vehicles particularly goods carriers using Delhi as transit route to reach Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh will be diverted on this expressway,” added Gadkari.
In 2016, Delhi government had conducted two sessions of odd-even scheme to contain pollution in the city in January and April. The scheme had received an unprecedented support from judiciary. It was called a huge success by Aam Aadmi Party government but was not implemented when Delhi was facing poisonous smog in post-Diwali celebrations in the winter of 2016.
The Delhi government also discontinued its monthly ‘Car Free Day’ after its 5th edition on February 22, 2016. The odd even scheme was not implemented in Delhi despite the order of Supreme Court to implement it automatically whenever air pollution level goes below ‘critical’.
Gadkari, however, admitted that his project of navigation in the Yamuna River is going behind the schedule. “In the first tender nobody came for the project. In the revised tender, a few companies have expressed interest. I am committed to start cruise service in Yamuna from Delhi to Agara. The multiplicity of agencies in Delhi is major hurdle in the work,” said Gadkari.
He, however, claimed that the project of Water Expressway in the Ganga River is on track and cruise service would start by 2018. “Water Traffic Control system has been completed from Haldia in Allahabad to Patna. The ‘five star’ and ‘seven star’ cruises will operate in the Ganga on routine basis from 2018,” claimed Gadkari.