Expedite Tribune Chowk flyover project, MP Tewari urges Gadkari

Former Union Minister and Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari has urged Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to expedite the Tribune Chowk flyover project, which has been hanging fire for almost a decade.

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“There is a need to construct a flyover till The Tribune intersection in order to mitigate the traffic congestion that takes place when vehicles coming from Delhi enter Chandigarh,” he stated in a letter to the minister.

“Various proposals and plans with regard to the flyover have already been proposed and, perhaps, sanctioned by the Chandigarh Administration as well as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI),” Tewari said.

The MP has requested the minister to advise the officers concerned to see that this project is expedited.

Tewari also spoke to the Secretary, Surface Transport Ministry, with regard to the project. The ministry informed Tewari that they are awaiting a proper proposal from the Chandigarh Administration with regard to the proposed flyover. It assured him that once the proposal is received and appraised, it can be executed as a project of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Tewari appealed to the Chandigarh Administration to send a proper proposal to the ministry at the earliest.

On a petition filed by the Run Club, the High Court on November 20, 2019, had stayed the move of the UT Administration to cut 700 trees on both sides of the Dakshin Marg and the Purv Marg to pave the way for the the flyover.. On May 1 last year, the High Court vacated the stay on the cutting of trees.

The ministry had approved Rs 183 crore for the project in 2019. Five years later, the project cost has increased to Rs 203 crore. The 1.6 km-long flyover is to be built from near the GMCH-32 roundabout up to the railway overbridge on the Dakshin Marg passing over the Tribune Chowk. Initially, the UT Administration had planned a 7-km flyover, but the Centre reduced the length to 3.5 km. Later, the ministry further reduced the length to 1.6 km.

Stone laid in 2019

The then UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore had laid the foundation stone of the Rs 183 crore project on March 3, 2019.

On May 1 last year, the High Court vacated the stay on the cutting of 700 trees, paving the way for the flyover project. The Bench ruled that the stay granted on November 20, 2019, had set Chandigarh back by a decade.

Five years later, the project cost has increased to Rs 203 crore.