Decks cleared for 6-laning of Amritsar-Delhi highway

Chandigarh, July 24
Hopes of the early completion of the six-laning of the Amritsar-Delhi national highway have been generated with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) fixing targets to relocate the boundary wall and shifting of certain Army structures in Jalandhar cantonment within six months.
The six-laning of the Kharar-Ludhiana and Chandigarh-Kharar roads is likely to start in October and will be completed within two-and-a-half years of awarding the contracts.
One of the major hurdles in the ongoing six-laning of the Delhi-Amritsar national highway was the boundary wall and a few Army structures along the road near Rama Mandi on the outskirts of Jalandhar.
After a stalemate, the Army finally agreed to the removal of these structures and the acquisition of 10.63 acres with a rider that the state government should acquire and hand over land at Sarangwal village worth the land collector’s rates of its land.
“The Army’s stance as of now is that the NHAI should build a new boundary wall of the cantonment before removing the existing one. The work has almost begun as the highway authorities have removed trees along the boundary wall,” said Naresh Vij, a defence spokesperson.
Satish Chandra, Member (Finance) of the National Highways Authority of India, said though the ongoing work in front of the Jalandhar cantonment and Phagwara had been delinked from the schedule because it involved the relocation of the cantonment wall and structures, but it would be completed within six months.
“The work on a large part of the road structure between Jalandhar and Phagwara is nearing completion. In Phagwara, the length of the elevated portion of the flyover is being increased,” said Satish Chandra.
The much-required repair work like filling of potholes on the busy Ropar-Phagwara section of the road will be completed by the NHAI within a year.
“This road was given to the NHAI in February and a detailed project report is under preparation and the work is likely to be awarded by November 30,” said Satish Chandra.
As per the order of the Supreme Court, the six-laning of the Panipat-Jalandhar section of NH-1 should have been completed by March 31, but the contractor has sought extension till November 30.
The work on the 20-km-long Jalandhar-Dhilwan section of the national highway is lying suspended for approval of pavement design. “This work will also be completed by March 2016,” Chandra said.
The four-laning work of the Kharar-Kurali section of the highway has not been awarded due to certain “technical grounds”.