In a bid to ensure better connectivity and give impetus to all round economic development, Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh on Tuesday discussed the status of various NHAI projects in the state with Chairman of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu to speed up pace of road projects.Presiding over the meeting, the Chief Secretary has directed the constitution of a Coordination Committee of Senior Officers from various concerned departments, which will meet every fortnight for an early resolution of various issues in an effort to expedite the projects of NHAI, including the proposed Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway.Referring to the connectivity of new alignment to Amritsar from Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, in an enquiry about the various issues related to land acquisition for the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway project, the Chief Secretary was informed that concerted efforts are being made to award this project by October-November and the State Government is providing the necessary support for expediting land acquisition and other pre-construction activities. He was also briefed that the major cities of Punjab i.e. Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and Amritsar would be connected by both Delhi-Katra Expressway and Amritsar-Jamnagar Expressway, which would improve road connectivity of major industrial and economic centers in Punjab with various ports and other important destinations in the country.
A study was being conducted by NHAI to make the existing 4-lane National Highways interconnecting these cities signal free, the officials further informed.During the meeting alignments of 12 new upcoming projects in the state, including decongestion of Zirakpur, were also discussed. The NHAI officials also requested the State Government to accelerate pre-construction activities like Land Acquisition, Forest Clearance, Wildlife clearance etc. to facilitate early sanction of projects from Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. The 12 new projects, which were discussed, are Moga-Bajakhana, Bathinda-Mandi Dabwali, Amritsar-Una, Amritsar-Ramdas, Malout-Abohar-Sadhuwali, Kharar-Banur-Tepla, Amritsar Bypass, Bathinda Bypass, Zirakpur Bypass-Ambala-Panchkula, Elevated structure from Chhatt Junction to Singhpura chowk, Phagwara-Hoshiarpur and Malout-Dabwali.The Chief Secretary assured the NHAI officials that all their concerns would be addressed at the earliest. He also urged them to expedite the completion of long pending projects in the state at the earliest. The meeting was attended by ACS Forest Ms. Ravneet Kaur, Chairman-cum-Managing Director PSPCL Mr. A. Venu Prasad, Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development Mr. Sarvjit Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Tejveer Singh, Principal Secretary PWD (B&R) Mr. Vikas Pratap, Chief Engineer (NH) Punjab Mr. T.S. Chahal, CGM (Tech.) NHAI Mr. Maneesh Rastogi, Regional Officer (NHAI) Chandigarh Mr. R.P. Singh, GM (Tech)-Bharatmala NHAI Mr. Rohin Gupta and PD (NHAI) Ludhiana (Expressway) Mr. Anil Kumar Sharma.