Residents protest as repair work on National Highway service lane stopped

Tarn Taran, August 26

Residents of Chutala village staged a dharna on the Usman toll plaza against leaving midway of the renovation work on the service lane of National Highway No.54 near Chutala village here on Monday.

As a result, the passage of vehicles at the toll plaza was ‘made free’ for all vehicles for more than three hours. Tarsem Singh, a resident of Chutala village, led the protesting residents under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), Punjab. Sawinder Singh Chutala, state leader of the KMSC, was among others who addressed on the occasion.

He said the service lane had been in bad shape due to the apathetic attitude of the administration as the sewerage water of nearby Aladinpur village had been discharging into a drain on the national highway. The drain had been overflowing for over the last six years. Over time, the sewerage water shattered the service lane with deep craters developing in the middle of the road.

The farmer leader said the residents had been appealing to the officials concerned for the maintenance of the service lane and the KMSC has been holding an agitation (from time to time) against the poor condition of the road for the last four years. He said the renovation work on the road was left midway around a month ago and the road has not been opened to traffic as yet.

The protesters were assured by Ashu Sharma of the National Highways Authority of India, Satinder Kumar, manager of the Usman toll plaza, and Inspector Gurwinder Singh, SHO, Sarhali, that the work on the service lane work would restarted soon and completed till September 20. The dharna was lifted after the assurance was given by the officials. Satinam Singh, Sukhdev Singh, Narinder Singh, among others, addressed the gathering on the occasion.