Flyover details kept under wraps

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 23

From the consultant’s report to the detailed project report (DPR), nothing has been put on public domain regarding the proposed Tribune flyover by the UT Administration till the finalisation of the project.

It was in 2016 when on local MP Kirron Kher’s request, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari had announced the project during his visit to the city.

After the approval of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the Administration appointed Mumbai-based Stup Constructions as consultant to prepare the DPR. The consultant suggested two levels of the flyover connecting the city with the Zirakpur flyover.

An elevated road has also been proposed from Chandigarh to Zirakpur to be constructed at the cost of around Rs 1,600 crore. Later, the NHAI reduced the length of the project, which brought down its cost too.

A former Chief Engineer said as per the NHAI guidelines, all information relating to projects should be placed in public domain. This would have even helped the Administration to remove the misconceptions, if any, in the minds of people.

Besides, the project is also silent on the environmental impact assessment (EIA), which is mandatory for big projects. While officials of the Engineering Department said the EIA was not necessary for the road project, environmentalists claimed that it should have been conducted as a large number of trees were coming in the way of the project.

The EIA is conducted to identify the environmental, social and economic impacts of a project prior to decision-making.

RK Garg, a social activist, said in many cases the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ruled that environment clearance was mandatory even for road or flyover projects as mentioned under Section 8(b) of the Schedule of Environmental Regulations 2006, notified by the Union Ministry of Environment.