Work on widening of Mohali-Landran road begins

Sanjay Bumbroo

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Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 4

Commuters on the Mohali-Landran road will get respite from huge traffic jams as the Public Works Department (PWD) has started levelling land adjoining the road for widening.

Jagdeep Sehgal, Sub-Divisional Officer, PWD, said a total of 28 big and small structures along the road would be razed for the widening project.

Landran Chowk, one of the busiest intersections of Mohali district, witnesses long traffic jams during the morning and evening hours. The Landran-Fatehgarh Sahib road remains busy throughout the day as more than 5,000 vehicles ply on the route every day. The Landran T-junction connects Sirhind (28 km), Kharar (8 km) and Banur (10 km) with Mohali district.

PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla had recently got the approval of Rs 25.33 crore for the project from the Punjab Government.

Sehgal said the PWD had started the levelling process for the widening of the Landran-Fatehgarh road after starting the disbursement of compensation to beneficiaries. A total of Rs 13 crore had to be paid as compensation to land owners. Of this, a sum of Rs 2 crore had already been disbursed. He said four slip roads were also to be constructed adjacent to the T-point to decongest the areas.

Sunny Singh, a resident, said the issue of land acquisition should have been sorted out first before starting the project. He said the government was making them to suffer without any fault of theirs.

It is pertinent to mention here that the widening work had been stuck for the past more than two years. When the work was to be allotted in 2016, code of conduct came into force and it was delayed. Then the government sanctioned Rs 23 crore for the project, but it could not take off due to land acquisition issues.

Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu in November last year had met Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan asking him to initiate the project as the government had issued the grant for it. Following this, the government issued a notification in November under Section 21(1) of The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act.