Nilokheri-Dhand road project tardy, may miss March deadline

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, February 7

The widening of the Nilokheri-Dhand state highway-33 is likely to miss the March 2021 deadline as the work on this project is going on at a slow pace. Of total 24.5-km stretch, carpeting had been done on just 8 km so far.

Moreover, the drainage work of the project is still pending at various places, causing inconvenience to the commuters and posing accident threat.

“The work on this project is going on at a snail’s pace, which poses accident threat. The road is full of potholes at various places, causing damage to the vehicles. The government should take a note on it and the work should be completed at the earliest,” said Rishpal Singh, a commuter.

Extension till May

The present status of the work shows that it may miss the March deadline, so we have given them extension till May 2021. Officials have given their consent to complete it before the new deadline. —Nishant Kumar Yadav, Karnal DC

Jatinder Kumar, another commuter, said he visits Nilokheri daily, but the incomplete work has increased the travel time which was another burden on the commuters.

The widening work is a long-pending demand as it is an important road that connects Karnal with Kaithal and Kurukshetra districts in Haryana and Patiala in Punjab. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced the project during the Vikas rally at Taraori on August 9, 2015.

As per the project, the road will be widened to 10 m from 5.5 m. The work on the project, costing around Rs 26 crore, was started in 2018 and the deadline was fixed for March 2021. Around 6,000 trees were chopped for the project.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said the laying of material for the sub-surface had been completed and the work on carpeting was going on. “I had conducted a meeting with the officials on December 30, in which I reviewed the progress of the project. The present status of the work shows that it may miss the March deadline, so we have given them extension till May 2021. The officials have given their consent to complete it before the new deadline,” the DC added.