Khattar, Capt push for ring road to unclog UT-Mohali-Panchkula

Rajmeet Singh 

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 29 

The Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana are pushing for a road encircling Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula tricity on the Delhi pattern. In separate proposals, they have sought a 100-km-long ring road touching the Chandigarh-Ropar, Chandigarh-Ambala, Nalagarh-Baddi and Panchkula-Nariangarh highways to ease inter-state traffic.

Citing the Chandigarh Master Plan: 2031, UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore too has taken up the matter with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, say sources. Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has shot off  a demi-official letter to Gadkari, saying the proposed road would ease the traffic flow from the national capital into Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, and back.

Punjab PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singla said they had urged the Centre to declare it a Centrally-funded project, inclusive of the cost of land acquisition. “Since the project is of national importance and involves land acquisition in two states, it requires Central intervention,” he held.

Citing the recommendation for a bypass by a joint committee for Chandigarh region’s integrated development, Punjab has pointed out that it will not only reduce congestion on Chandigarh’s arterial roads, but also link GMADA expressway near Mullanpur and Banur up to Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and some parts of Haryana.