Starting point will be shifted to Balongi bridge, assures Gadkari

Tribune News Service

Mohali, March 15

Much to the relief of a number of residents of Phase VI here, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has assured to get the starting point of the proposed Mohali-Kharar flyover shifted.

In a letter to Mohali MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gadkari stated: “There is already a provision of elevated section from the Balongi bridge to Pacci Rurki. Moreover, it the work for this stretch has already been awarded.”

“Now, the flyover would be constructed from the Balongi bridge instead of the Mohali-Chandigarh border, near a gurdwara in Phase VI,” said Sidhu.

It is to be noted that residents of Phase VI and the management committee of the gurdwara have been sitting on a chain hunger strike for the past 63 days. The protesters were demanding shifting of the starting point of the flyover to save a number of houses and a portion of the gurdwara as these were to be razed for constructing the elevated road. “Now, with the shifting of the location of the starting point of the flyover, houses and a part of the gurdwara would not be demolished,” said RP Sharma, a municipal councillor.

Interestingly, Sidhu, who visited the protesting site to show the Gadkari’s letter to the protesters, did not give the communiqué to them and took it along saying that it would be given to them tomorrow. “We would hold a ‘thanks-giving’ ceremony in which we would offer juice to the protesters to end the agitation,” said Sidhu.