Karnal: Work to widen canal bridge on NH-44 likely to start by month-end

Parveen Arora

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Karnal, October 5

Work on the widening of the bridge on the augmentation canal near Madhuban on the NH-44 has been awarded and it is likely to start by the end of this month.

As per the authorities of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the widening work will be completed at a cost of around Rs 18 crore, for which an 18-month deadline has been set.

“After the widening of the main carriage lane on the bridge gets completed, a major bottleneck of the NH-44 will be removed,” the NHAI said.

Work allotted

The NHAI has floated a tender to widen the main carriage lane and the service lane. Work has also been allotted to an agency, which will start the project by the end of October. —Bhanu Pratap, Site engineer, NHAI

Relief for commuters

The issue was raised at the road safety committee meeting. The work will start soon and will bring a major relief to commuters. —Anish Yadav, DC

This stretch near Madhuban on the NH-44 was identified as one of the accident-prone areas by the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD). Eight accidents have taken place on that stretch, resulting in the death of five persons this year.

“The NHAI has floated a tender to widen the main carriage lane and the service lane on the canal. Work has also been assigned to an agency, which will start the project by the end of October,” said Bhanu Pratap, site engineer, NHAI.

Residents said the project would provide a major relief to the public.

“It was a long-pending demand of the residents as this stretch is a bottleneck that leads to traffic jams and mishaps. Now, the NHAI has floated a tender and work has been allotted for the project,” Harvinder Kalyan, Gharaunda MLA, said.

Under this bridge, there would be a provision of an underpass for light vehicles to reach Pakka Pul, a religious place where a large number of people went to pay obeisance, the MLA said, adding: “I will visit the site soon with the authorities to go through the design of the bridge.”

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Anish Yadav said the issue was also raised at the road safety committee meeting, which was highlighted with the NHAI higher authorities. “A survey was conducted to check the feasibility of the project and now, the work will start soon and will be a major relief for commuters,” the DC added.

Due to a bottleneck point here, the police had to face a lot of problems to manage the traffic. “Since the main carriage lane gets congested at the canal bridge on the NH-44, commuters face traffic snarls frequently. We have to make extra efforts to control the traffic,” said a police official.