Time limit for Kitchlew Chowk flyover stretched

The flyover at Kitchlew Chowk was to be completed by February this year, but the work on it has been delayed due to something that has time and again evoked sharp criticism from environment lovers in the city: the holdup on part of the Amritsar improvement trust (AIT) in felling trees that have come in the way of the project.

The flyover at Kitchlew Chowk was to be completed by February this year, but the work on it has been delayed due to something that has time and again evoked sharp criticism from environment lovers in the city: the holdup on part of the Amritsar improvement trust (AIT) in felling trees that have come in the way of the project.

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The company executing the project has sought extension of the deadline till August 31, but the AIT wants the flyover to be completed by the first week of August.

The project in question is worth Rs 17.77 crore and was mooted with an aim of streamlining traffic in the Kitchlew Chowk area. Scheduled to be completed by February, the project, however, missed its deadline as the AIT failed to axe in time more than 25 trees that came in the way of the project.

Sources said that at least 12 banyan trees and 15 small trees were to be felled to pave way for the project, which got delayed because the AIT got the trees chopped only in March. The impending flyover has always been in the news because of the massive felling of trees to clear the way for the overbridge and the resultant censure of environment lovers in the city, who feel that the flyover can be constructed even without chopping down the trees by changing the course of the bridge.

Stating that the work on the construction of the flyover had got a fillip after the felling of the trees in March, Rishi said that more than 70% of the work was likely to be completed in the coming 10 days.