Construction of Karnal bridge at snail’s pace, commuters suffer

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, October 3

The construction of a bridge on augmentation canal on Karnal-Meerut road (a part of NH-709A) is on at a slow pace.

This is causing suffering to residents of around 70 villages, as they have to travel extra miles from inside the lanes of the colonies to enter the main road. Also, heavy vehicles are damaging the roads of the colonies.

The construction of the bridge on the canal is part of the widening of a 14.5-km-long stretch till Haryana-UP border from Tau Devi Lal Chowk, which is being constructed at Rs 105 crore.

Six lanes would be made between Tau Devi Lal Chowk to augmentation canal bridge which will be 27.5m wide.

Sources say delay in stopping the flow of water in the canal has resulted in hindrance in the completion of the work.

“The sugarcane crushing season is nearing and we will face problems if it is not opened by then,” said Kewal, a farmer.

An official said 60 per cent work has been completed. It will be over by mid-December.

Nishant Kumar Yadav, DC, said CM Manohar Lal Khattar had last week visited the construction site and directed the agency to complete the bridge by mid-November. “For the farmers, the agency has been directed to make a slipway so that they can bring sugarcane to the mill,” he added.