A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta was apprised by Ghaziabad's senior superintendent of police (SSP), who was present in the courtroom, that the construction work has resumed and the lawyer appearing for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also endorsed the officer's statement.
The 135-km long Eastern Peripheral Expressway envisages signal-free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal.
The apex court had on May 1 directed the Ghaziabad's SSP to remain present before it on May 5 with full facts of the case.
The NHAI had earlier told the bench that no construction was being carried out in the 25-km stretch in Ghaziabad due to protests by farmers and lack of police protection to the workers despite the apex court's order.
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The apex court had earlier asked the director general of police to provide security for construction work of the expressway as the work in the stretch was forcibly stopped by the farmers from December 25 last year.
Besides this, the construction work on the 135-km long Western Peripheral Expressway, which connects Kundli to Palwal via Manesar in Haryana, was also going on.
The court, which has been hearing a 1985 plea filed by environmentalist M C Mehta on various issues including vehicular pollution, had asked the Centre in 2005 to build a peripheral expressway around Delhi by July 2016 to decongest and "de-pollute" the national capital.
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