Nangal ROB project stuck in legal tangles

Arun Sharma
Tribune News Service
Ropar, July 16

Advertisement

The commuters as well as residents of Nangal are likely to get only a partial relief from frequent traffic jams even after the approval of a flyover on the Sutlej near Nangal Dam and a railway overbridge (ROB) near Ajouli Mour by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways more than two years ago in December 2016.

While 35 per cent work on the flyover being constructed on the Sutlej has already been completed, the ROB has been stuck up in litigation. The liquidated Punjab National Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (PNFC) authorities have denied the NHAI authorities even to conduct any survey on its land, 4.02 acre of which was supposed to be acquired for the project. The PNFC custodians are insisting that the NHAI acquire all 80 acres of land owned by the company.

The NHAI had approved the two projects, amounting to Rs 183 crore, simultaneously as the narrow road on Nangal Dam being used to go towards Himachal Pradesh was witnessing long traffic jams every day. The work on the 1.37-km flyover on the Sutlej was started last year in August 2018 and likely to be completed next year in August. The second part of the project, a 1.26-km ROB to be constructed near Ajouli Mour, is set for delay for indefinite period as the issue of land acquisition is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.