Kharar flyover work to resume on April 20

Work on the flyover was suspended on March 22 after the nationwide lockdown

Even as the district administration on Sunday “banned any additional activities (not already allowed under previous orders/exemptions)” in Mohali, it has allowed the National Highways Authority of India to resume the Kharar-Chandigarh flyover work from Monday (April 20).

Having missed four deadlines already, the project, underway since November 2015, now has a September 20200 deadline. (HT File Photo)

Already delayed by a year, the work was stopped on March 22, following the nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

“We got a request from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to start work on the project, we have approved it and it will resume work from April 20,” said Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan.

NHAI project director Krishnan Sachdeva felt the conditions were right in the absence of traffic due to the lockdown. “We have already given directions to the labourers to start work from Monday,” he said.

“The authorities concerned should not have suspended operations as it had nothing to do with Covid-19 and a great deal of progress could have been made in the absence of traffic,” said Kamaldeep Singh Tiwana, a resident of Kharar

The 10-km Kharar-Chandigarh road expansion project which entails construction of two flyovers and three bridges, is likely to miss its fifth deadline, two this year in January and March, with the NHAI confirming that it was not likely to be completed before September 2020.

NHAI had handed over the Rs 368 crore project to L&T and the construction began in November 2015. It was to be completed by December 2018. However, in the past four years only 68% work was completed.