Industries lose access to highway after four-laning of Baddi-Nalagarh road

Meant to facilitate industry, the widening of the Baddi-Nalagarh highway to four lanes is posing problems to manufacturing units as those located along the stretch have lost access to the road.

In the absence of apt coordination with the industry, the newly four-laned highway has ended up raising walls in front of industrial units owing to its elevated carriageway. This is hampering the movement of trucks which carry goods to and from industry with loading and unloading becoming a challenging task.

“The woes of the industry do not end here as owners of several units have been asked to cough up lakhs to seek access from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI),” stated Anil Sharma.

Exposing faults in planning where key stakeholders were neither consulted nor apprised of the eventuality, the situation has become problematic for the industry as loading and unloading of vehicles has become difficult owing to the height of the highway.

Contributing a major chunk to the state’s gross domestic product, the industry is at crossroads as this situation has hit manufacturing units adversely. “At least 50 industries are facing the problem, including an old spinning mill, which dispatches big chunk of goods to different destinations on a daily basis,” informed Anil Sharma, general secretary, Nalagarh Industries Association (NIA).

Blaming the NHAI for overlooking this key area, the NIA has now sought the intervention of the deputy commissioner to resolve the issue amicably.

The association, while terming it as an act of utter negligence, stated that the NHAI neither shared the site plan with the industry nor held any meeting to apprise them of the adverse situation that would arise while acquiring land along the Baddi-Nalagarh National Highway-105.

“Hapless investors have been forced to confine their offices and production activities in the left-over space after shifting their boundary walls within their premises,” informed Sharma.

The industry further rues that no slip or service road has been constructed to facilitate the movement of vehicles and goods contrary to the NHAI norms. A large number of these industries have been in existence since 1980.

To add to their woes, the NHAI has directed them to shell out another Rs 7 lakh to Rs 8 lakh for seeking permission to access from the highway failing which it won’t be provided, informed Sharma who pleaded for an amicable solution in coordination with the industry.