Upgrade of road to NH opposed

Tribune News Service

Karnal, April 20

Despite a non-feasibility report by the administration and technical experts, the government recently notified upgrade of State Highway-8 to National Highway-709A.

Connecting Bhiwani and Meerut via Jind, the highway passes through the heart of Karnal. It cannot have four lanes as per norms of the Centre since it is congested.

After the notification, work on widening the road was started from the NDRI Chowk to ITI Chowk. Scores of trees were axed.

Groups of residents approached Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari recently, urging him to denotify the national highway.

Col Manbeer Chaudhary (retd), a local resident, said the highway had been planned through the heart of the city. “After opening of Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College and Hospital, traffic problems are routine. The heart of the city cannot bear extra traffic,” he said.

Chaudhary Ved Pal, former Deputy Speaker, said he had informed Gadkari that expansion of the stretch from the NDRI Chowk to ITI Chowk was waste of money.

He said the government could modify the notification by connecting the Meerut road to the Jind road through the western bypass from Namastey Chowk to Western Yamuna Canal.

Advocate Vijay Pal said the Superintending Engineer had, in June 2017, pointed out non-feasibility due to technical reasons and then DC had recommended the report to the government.

“The western bypass is about to be completed, after which this road stretch will be denotified,” said DC Aditya Dahiya.