Punjab puts stalled NHAI projects on track, speeds up acquisition

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 23

The Punjab Government has expedited the process for the resumption of work on stalled highway projects in the state. The government has assured farmers of enhanced compensation for their acquired land. It has also apprised them of legal provisions against illegal occupation.

Telling numbers

• Length of Delhi-Katra expressway in Punjab: 295 km
• Land possession given: 255 km
• To be given by Sept 30: 25 km
• Under litigation: 15 km

The development assumes significance as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to review the status of the NHAI projects in Punjab and some other states on August 28.

As the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway, one of the flagship projects of the NHAI, tops the agenda of the PM’s high-level meeting, the official machinery of the state is working overtime.

Chief Secretary Anurag Verma held another marathon meeting with all deputy commissioners in Chandigarh this afternoon.

“I have been reviewing the progress of the ongoing highway projects, especially the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway, and the action taken to clear the hurdles in the way of construction work every Friday,” Verma told The Tribune over the phone.

He disclosed that the possession of a 255-km stretch of land of the 295 km main expressway passing through Punjab had already been handed over to the NHAI till Friday and another 25 km would be handed over by September 30. “With this, almost 95 per cent of the total expressway stretch in the state will be cleared and the remaining 15 km, which is under litigation or facing other issues, will also be done in due course of time,” he said.

Verma said the DCs had also been instructed to ensure peaceful possession of land under other stalled NHAI projects.

“We are committed to providing land acquired for the highway projects and ensuring peaceful execution of the acquisition proceedings as well as the construction work, but the NHAI also needs to retain the land,” the Chief Secretary asserted, while blaming the NHAI for not starting construction work at several places even after getting the land long back.

In one such case, the possession of a 6.2-km stretch of land falling in Chhappar, Dhurkot and Juraha villages of Ludhiana was taken for the construction of an expressway.

DC Sakshi Sawhney led the operation to take the peaceful possession of land and hand it over to the highways authority for resuming the work on the now stalled “package 8” of the NHAI’s flagship project.

She said that it was part of the 12-km stretch and more than half of it had been successfully taken and handed over in a single day with the process underway to get back the remaining land as well.

“It was a long-pending issue as the land possession of the entire stretch initially given in 2022 to the NHAI was resumed by farmers as the NHAI failed to sustain it,” the DC disclosed.

Sakshi said that the success was achieved by engaging the stakeholders and encouraging them to use the appeal and arbitration provisions.

“We have been actively engaging with the farmers and impressing upon them the need for handing over the land acquired for the highway projects in larger public interest,” she said, adding that the continuous efforts had started bearing fruit.