Completion of Ludh-Chd highway not possible before Sept: NHAI

Ludhiana: The Ludhiana-Chandigarh national highway is likely to be delayed by two more months, with the exodus of the migrant workers, which has resulted in shortage of construction workers. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was planning to complete the project by September end, but given the circumstances, they estimate a delay of two months.
A senior officer of the NHAI, on condition of anonymity, said they are facing nearly 40% shortage of workers ever since they had resumed the work about 20 days ago.
According to the officer, at present work is pending near the Samrala bypass section in Ludhiana district, as they are still awaiting permission to cut 70 trees to facilitate the project. He also said the NHAI has deposited the compensation for cutting the 70 trees and once the permission is granted, work will start there.
NHAI officials said flyover work near Baini Sahib is also pending, due to delay in land acquisition. They added once the sub-divisional magistrate office award the 0.7 hectare land to be used in the project there, they will deposit the compensation to the land owners.
The work near Sanghol in Fatehgarh Sahib, where Buddhist stupa is near the road, and Khanpur and Baggo Majra is also pending, as the high court is hearing a petition regarding the compensation.
Project director of NHAI, K L Sachdeva said 91% of the work is completed — of the 76km planned, 71km has been constructed. He acknowledged that they are facing labour shortage.
Meanwhile, locals living along the road said they are waiting for the project to be completed.
“Once completed, the road will open floodgates of economic activity in our villages, as the time to reach Ludhiana and Chandigarh is reduced significantly. We can sell our produce in the markets of Ludhiana or Chandigarh in the morning and return home by afternoon. It will improve our economic and social status,” said Avtar Singh, a resident of a village near Samrala.
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Pending work
NHAI officials said work on the one-and-half kilometres stretches in Baggo Majra and Khanpur of Mohali has not been started because of disagreement over compensation to farmers
Work on about 100m road stretch near Hedon where pipe factory is located is also mired in land dispute
70 trees belonging to irrigation department need to be cut near Samrala
For Bhaini sahib flyover construction work, land is still being acquired
Work pending on about 1.5 km stretch each in Baggo Majra and Khanpur
Work pending near Sanghol on 600m stretch
2 tolls along the highway
A toll plaza near Ghulal village and other toll plazas at Baggo Majra near Mohali are in the works
Delay imminent
In March, after a meeting with state government officials, NHAI officials had claimed that if all bottle necks are cleared by March 31, NHAI will get work in Ludhiana district completed by June end. And the pending work till Mohali by August end and till Chandigarh by September 30. NHAI officials now said given the curfew and the lockdown, it may not be possible for the agency to get the work completed before November.