E-Paper
Only 63% work done on Chandigarh-Kharar flyover since Nov ’15, says NHAI
Missing the two deadlines in the past, NHAI said that they are anticipating the completion of the flyover now by June 2020
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday said that only 63% of work has been completed on the ₹369-crore Chandigarh-Kharar flyover since the project began in November 2015.
In an RTI reply, project director KL Sachdeva said, “Till September, 63% of the work has been completed on the flyover.”
As per an NHAI official, the completion of the 63% work includes building of the flyover structure from Khanpur to KFC T-point. “It also includes acquiring of 15 hectares of land and demolition of 440 structures out of the 500,” he said.
Missing the two deadlines in the past, NHAI said that they are anticipating the completion of the flyover now by June 2020. The first deadline was December 2018 and second was March 2020.
The NHAI, however, didn’t reveal cost escalation caused due to delays in reply to the RTI. When asked about the total budget at which the flyover will be constructed, the RTI repliy said, “Can (only) be determined at the time of project competition.”
Things yet to be done
The picture is one of chaos as the NHAI is yet to finalise the dates to demolish the remaining structures. These structures are erected at spots like Mundi Kharar, Balongi and Khanpur. The NHAI is yet to acquire the two hectares of land that was delaying the flyover work.
Recently, NHAI said they received awards of around 12 structures out of 60 in Mundi Kharar from the district administration and have processed the same for payment.
After missing two deadlines, the NHAI had launched a five-day demolition drive on July 2 between the Balongi and Khanpur stretch and razed as many as 240 structures out of a total of 300 set to be removed for the flyover.
They demolished around 10 structures in Mundi Kharar, at the same time facing protests by the owners. These owners had alleged that their structures were demolished without providing proper compensation.
Blame game
The NHAI has been blaming the Mohali district administration for the delay in razing of the remaining 60 structures. They also had to call off the previous demolition drives conducted on March 27 and 28 as officials were busy with election duties and security for the Indian Premier League. Only 60 structures could be razed at that time, while around 300 remain.
In May, L&T had threatened to pull out of the project over acquisition delays. The National Highway-21 connects Chandigarh with parts of Punjab, besides Jammu &Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
