Shorter route to Chandigarh airport to be complete by December 2025: Punjab to HC
Besides this, the government has also told the court that the road starting from Jagatpura village is an 18-ft wide road which is being upgraded and 90% work has been completed.
The Punjab government has told the high court that a shorter route to the Shaheed Bhagat Singh international airport, via Sector 65-66 junction (near Bawa White House), will be completed by December 2025.
A government counsel informed the court that an 8.5 km, 164-ft (500 metre) wide road will run parallel to the Airport Road (PR-7), starting from Bawa White House in Mohali’s Phase 9, Industrial Area.
The ₹125-crore project is being pitched as an alternative route to the airport in place of the one proposed by the UT. However, it will not help airport goers from Chandigarh side as the distance remains almost the same.
Besides this, the government has also told the court that the road starting from Jagatpura village is an 18-ft wide road which is being upgraded and 90% work has been completed.
This was informed during the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL), pending since December 2015, when the Mohali Industries Association (MIA) had approached the court, alleging lack of facilities at the airport. Since then, the HC has been monitoring the progress of various projects at the airport.
As per the proceedings before the court, Punjab is opposing a direct link between Sector-48 and airport, which would have brought down travel time between Chandigarh and the airport from 25 minutes to 5 minutes. The demand for this road started in 2016-17, mainly from Haryana and Chandigarh, to reduce travel time between Panchkula, Chandigarh and the airport. Later, after a study, a route was finalised, which was to start from Sector 48, and the current distance between Chandigarh and the airport, 11.5 km, was to come down to only 3.5 km, thereby bringing the travel time down.
Initially, the Punjab government had also agreed and the then governor had given “in principle” nod for the project in 2022. The central government had also cleared it. However, in 2023, the Punjab government changed its stand and started work on a 164-ft-wide parallel road between the airport and Bawa White house.
As per affidavit of Punjab on this issue, if constructed, the route proposed by UT will have “adverse effects” on airport expansion. The earmarked land is to be provided for maintenance and repair work adjoining the existing airport.
The road, if constructed, will cut through the connectivity of the airport to the area where these facilities are to come up in future. It will also hamper the potential expansion of the airport, the government has said.
The Punjab government has further stated that the proposed route runs along the boundary wall of the Indian Air Force Station, Chandigarh, and cuts through the middle of the land reserved for the expansion of airport facilities in the GMADA Master Plan 2006-2031.