Mohali-Kharar flyover hits land aquisition hurdle

Pavneet Singh Chadha

Tribune News Service

Mohali, April 7

The work on the Mohali-Kharar flyover project, whose deadline was revised recently and advanced by three months, has slowed down due to problems related to land acquisition.

The 368-crore project, whose contract was given to Larsen & Toubro Ltd, was earlier supposed to be completed by December 31, 2018. However, due to the slow pace of construction, the deadline was revised to March 31, 2019.

According to sources, certain structures are yet to be acquired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) with officials claiming that some landowners were refusing to co-operate and not vacating the structures, even after receiving the payment.

A NHAI official, on the condition of anonymity, said while the payment for 244 structures had been deposited with the SDM office, only 80-90 owners had claimed it.

Sources said another bone of contention was regarding the sharing of compensation among owners of a particular structure. Officials of NHAI and the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) had inspected the site last week.

A NHAI official said, “At the Ravi market for instance, the work has stalled as people are not claiming compensation. They went to the High Court, where their plea was dismissed. Still, the work has been stalled since the land could not be acquired. We have written to the authorities to expedite the document verification and compensation process.”

According to sources, of 181 pier shafts (vertical supporting structures), 124 pier have been completed and almost 85 per cent of pile caps have been built.

An official said timely acquisition of land was crucial for the remaining work, including laying pre-cast girders, slabs and the construction of roads, if the project was to be completed on time.

The construction of the six-lane flyover began in June 2016 and it has since been redesigned as a combination of elevated and surface project after earlier designs were shelved by NHAI after protests by

some local residents. The project includes a 10-km stretch, including a 3.2-km elevated corridor and three vehicular underpasses.

On the Daon-Balongi stretch of the flyover, some shops were demolished a few months ago to facilitate the construction of a service road. However, the service road is yet to be built.

Meanwhile, the congestion on the road, in the absence of diversion and proper service roads, leads to traffic queues, causing inconvenience to commuters. Once completed, the flyover would reduce travel time by a couple of hours for an estimated 40,000 vehicles plying on the route daily.

Landowners refuse to vacate structures 

A NHAI official, on the condition of anonymity, said while the payment for 244 structures had been deposited with the SDM office, only 80-90 owners had claimed it. Some landowners have refused to vacate the structures, even after receiving the payment. 

Missing deadline

Start date: June 9, 2016

Previous deadline: Dec 31, 2018

Current deadline: Mar 31, 2019