Fresh cracks have appeared in the quality of the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor, with the earthen embankments along the highway near Gangnauli village in Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh, caving in badly after recent rain. Soil has washed away at several stretches, leaving deep pits that have also destabilised the safety railing, raising fears of an accident on this busy route.
Viral Video Triggers Alarm
Local residents filmed the collapsing soil and the craters forming along the highway and posted the clip on social media, where it quickly went viral. The footage shows that in several places the soil beneath the road surface itself has washed away, not just the embankment at the edge. Engineers describe this as slope erosion, but in plain terms it means the road bed has been hollowed out from within. Officials fear that when heavy vehicles like trucks and buses pass over these weakened stretches, the road could sink under the load and trigger a major accident. Since the railing posts are anchored in the same soil, the erosion has also left the safety railing loose and unstable in multiple spots. As soon as the video surfaced, officials of the National Highways Authority of India were left scrambling, and an inspection of the site was ordered.
Not the First Time, Action Was Taken in Shamli Too
This is not the first occasion the construction quality of the Delhi-Dehradun corridor has come under scrutiny. Large potholes had previously been found on the stretch passing through Shamli district. The National Highways Authority of India had treated that case seriously, ordering an investigation, and disciplinary action was taken against both the construction agency and the employees found responsible for the lapse. Formal notices were also issued to the concerned agencies at the time. The fact that a similar complaint has now emerged in Baghpat raises fresh questions about how robust the quality checks were during the actual construction of the corridor.
A Rs 12,000 Crore Corridor That Cuts Travel to Three Hours
The Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor is a six lane, access controlled highway stretching 213 kilometres, built at a cost of roughly Rs 12,000 crore. It was inaugurated on April 14 this year. Before the corridor opened, the journey from Delhi to Dehradun took around six hours; that travel time has now come down to about three hours. With thousands of commuters and heavy vehicles relying on this route every day, any weakness in the embankment soil or the railing directly threatens the safety of everyone who travels on it.
Officials Say Soil Filling Will Be Completed Soon
Ankit Kumar, an executive engineer with the National Highways Authority of India, explained that slope protection work had not been completed at the spots where the erosion occurred, and the recent rain washed away the loose soil there. He assured that the pending soil filling, slope protection and concrete work would be completed soon so that the problem does not recur. Locals, however, say that until permanent repairs are carried out, drivers using this stretch of the expressway need to stay alert.
