Centre threatens to cancel eight more NHAI projects in Punjab

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 10

The Centre has threatened to cancel more national highway projects in Punjab in case the situation, which it termed as “worsening”, does not improve.

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has written a demi-official letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, raising serious safety concerns for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officers, contractors and their staff besides pending land acquisition matters.

Reacting to Gadkari’s missive, the CM told The Tribune on Saturday: “We are on the job and will review the projects intensively to ascertain the real obstacles. The government will convince the farmers regarding the importance of these projects to seek their cooperation. For other people, the law of land will be enforced.”

In a strongly worded two-page letter, a copy of which is with The Tribune, Gadkari on Friday took up with Mann the issue of recent assault and life threats to NHAI men on work in the state.

“The NHAI is developing Greenfield and Brownfield national highway corridors, including Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway in Punjab. In this regard, I want to highlight serious safety concerns for NHAI officers, contractors and their staff as well as issues related to pending land acquisition matters,” the Union Minister wrote.

He said he had been informed about two untoward incidents, which occurred recently on the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway projects, wherein an engineer of the contractor was brutally assaulted in Jalandhar, project camp of the contractor was attacked and the engineers were threatened with dire consequences in Ludhiana.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the inaction, Gadkari said: “Although FIR has been registered in the Jalandhar case, strong action is required to be taken against the perpetrators. In Ludhiana, where the engineers and the men on work were threatened to be burnt alive along with the project camp, no FIR has been filed and the miscreants have not been arrested despite written request by NHAI officers.”

Requesting the state government to immediately take corrective measures, file FIRs and take strong action against the perpetrators to prevent such incidents in future and to restore the confidence of NHAI officers and staff of the concessionaires on work, the Union Minister mentioned that it has been brought to his notice that no progress has been made to resolve pending issues related to land acquisition and law and order despite the PWD Minister assuring him during a review meeting on July 15.

“During the meeting, it was assured that pending issues would be resolved on priority but the situation has further worsened,” Gadkari said.

He put it on record that due to pending issues related to land acquisition and the prevailing law and order conditions, a number of contractors/concessionaires have requested to foreclose contracts and have raised claims against the NHAI.

“The NHAI has already terminated three projects in Punjab with a total length of 104 km and costing Rs 3,263 crore. If the situation does not improve, the NHAI will have no other option but to cancel/terminate eight other severely affected projects with total length of 293 km costing Rs 14,288 crore,” Gadkari told Mann, while stating that these were mainly Greenfield corridors and cancelling even one package will render the entire corridor useless.

Attaching the complaints, photographs and details of cancelled and to-be-cancelled projects with the letter, the Union Minister added: “I earnestly request your personal intervention in these matters, which would go a long way in resolving the pending issues in national highway projects, thereby expediting development of NHAI infrastructure in Punjab.”

We’re on job

We are on the job and will review the projects intensively to ascertain the real obstacles. We will convince the farmers regarding the importance of these projects to seek their cooperation. For other people, the law of land will be enforced. — Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister