Shorter route to international airport hits roadblock
The construction of a shorter route to Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Mohali, from Chandigarh, has been put on hold as the Punjab Government is yet to give its consent for acquisition of land for the project.
The UT Administration had last year approved the construction of a shorter route to the airport for which a total of 51 acres, including 39.6 acres in Chandigarh and 12 acres in Jagatpura and Khandala villages of Punjab, were to be acquired.
About the route
- The UT Administration planned the shorter route from near Sector 48.
- The new road was to start from the T-point intersection of Vikas Marg (coming from the ISBT in Sector 43) and Purv Marg (coming from Tribune Chowk).
- The current distance from this intersection to the airport is 11.5 km after traversing through Mohali. The shorter route would reduce it to around 3.5 km, thereby bringing the travel time down from 25 minutes to 5 minutes.
- For the shorter route to airport from Chandigarh, the railways had chalked out a plan for the construction of a railway under bridge (RUB) connecting Vikas Marg with the new road.
An official stated that the land was to be acquired by both the Punjab Government and the UT Administration. Since Punjab had not agreed on acquisition of land yet, the project had to be put on hold, the official said, while adding that they could not wait endlessly for acquisition of land in Punjab.
Recently, the Punjab Government had informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that they were constructing a shorter route to the airport on their side at a cost of Rs 125 crore, which would reduce the distance by 5 km.
In November last year, then UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit had approved completing the land acquisition process under the 2018 Negotiation Policy. After this, the UT issued a notification offering a compensation ranging from Rs 2.54 crore to Rs 3.34 crore per acre to landowners. However, they protested against the policy. As 80 of the 110 landowners refused to give their land under the 2018 policy, the UT decided to switch to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, for acquisition.
