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After Katra e-way, other stalled NHAI projects also take off

Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 30 After the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway, other stalled National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) projects have also started taking off in the state. The Ludhiana-Ropar and Ludhiana-Bathinda highways have got parcels of remaining acquired land to...
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Tribune News Service

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Ludhiana, August 30

After the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway, other stalled National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) projects have also started taking off in the state. The Ludhiana-Ropar and Ludhiana-Bathinda highways have got parcels of remaining acquired land to resume the construction work.

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The development assumes significance as these were two of the three Greenfield national highway projects in Punjab, having length of 104-km with total capital cost amounting to Rs 3,264 crore, that have been terminated/withdrawn due to non-availability of land as per conditions precedent on the part of the NHAI within the stipulated timelines.

The stalled highway projects were put back on track after Chief Secretary Anurag Verma started taking weekly review of the NHAI issues by holding marathon meetings with the Deputy Commissioners every Friday and engaged with the farmers protesting against land acquisition for the past three months.

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Acting swiftly, the DCs of Ludhiana and Barnala managed the transfer of acquired land to the NHAI for paving the way for revival of two Greenfield corridors.

In a demi-official letter to the CS, a copy of which is with The Tribune, Ludhiana DC Sakshi Sawhney reported that the farmers have agreed to vacate the acquired land for the Ludhiana-Ropar highway following which the NHAI has begun work to resume construction of the terminated project.

Sakshi maintained that due to the farmers’ resentment over arbitration matters, the construction was halted and the district administration, after engaging with the farmers and the arbitrator, the arbitrator award was announced in December 2023, but the NHAI finally approved the award in July 2024.

“Post the approval of awards, the farmers, in general, have expressed approval for the project to continue and consequently, 5-km of work was restarted in Walipur and Gorsian Hakamrai villages,” the DC said, while stating that the NHAI was urged to restart work on this project and any issues, if they may arise, will be handled by the district administration in conjunction with the NHAI.

She sought instructions to the NHAI to restart work on the 30-km stretch as the remaining 7.7-km possession will be handed over by September 30.

Similarly, Barnala DC Punamdeep Kaur reported that as per the CS’s directions, the district administration has managed possession of 1-km of the remaining 6.2-km parcel of Ludhiana-Bathinda highway package-2 while the contractor and the NHAI representatives have not been available after August 16 to hand them over the left out land as well.

“A meeting was held with NHAI project director Navrattan on August 22 wherein it was apprised that the contractor along with infrastructure will reach Barnala on August 23. However, there has been no progress in the matter so far,” she said. Punamdeep urged the NHAI project director to look into the matter personally so that the land transfer process can be expedited and progress can be reported to the higher authorities.

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