Chandigarh: The Centre has identified delays in land acquisition, farmers’ protests, utility shifting, forest clearances, law and order issues and local demands as the principal reasons delaying the execution of 35 ongoing National Highway and expressway projects in Punjab, including the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway.The ministry of road transport and highways said these bottlenecks had delayed project timelines across several key road infrastructure projects in the state despite regular monitoring and coordination with implementing agencies.The details were shared by Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari in a written reply to an unstarred question by Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh, on Wednesday.According to the ministry, National Highway projects in Punjab were deferred mainly because of delays in handing over land, law and order issues, additional requirements arising from local demands, non-reimbursement of pond ash transportation costs by state thermal power plants in accordance with the ministry of environment, forest and climate change notification, and delays in obtaining statutory clearances and permissions.The ministry said the central govt actively monitors the projects in close coordination with implementing agencies, state govts and contractors. It added that periodic review meetings were held at various levels and measures had been taken to improve contractors’ liquidity and expedite project execution. These include streamlining land acquisition and environmental clearances, online approval of General Arrangement Drawings (GADs) for railway overbridges (ROBs) and railway underbridges (RUBs), revamping the dispute resolution mechanism, premium rescheduling and one-time fund infusion.The Centre also said it had repeatedly sought the cooperation of the Punjab govt to remove impediments to project implementation.The details shared show that several important projects witnessed delays owing to unresolved land acquisition and local issues.The 43.26-km Greenfield Ludhiana-Rupnagar Highway (Package-3) has achieved 79.87% physical progress, with its likely completion revised to Dec 31, 2026, after delays caused by land acquisition issues and demands from farmers and villagers.The 39-km Amritsar-Bathinda six-lane project (Package-I) is 71.60% complete, with the ministry attributing delays to land acquisition and farmers’ protests. Its likely completion date is Dec 14, 2027.The Jalandhar Bypass project has reached 50.96% progress, but work continues to be affected by land acquisition issues, farmers’ protests, pending possession of 3.464 km of land and shifting of Extra High Tension (EHT) power lines.For the Amritsar Bypass (Package-III), physical progress stands at 82.30%. The ministry said the project had been hampered by land acquisition issues and slow progress by the contractor, while work remained pending because of a gurdwara-related alignment issue, a railway overbridge and EHT line shifting.The Amritsar-Ghoman-Tanda-Una project (Package-I) has achieved 68.40% progress, but continues to face delays due to pending land acquisition, slow compensation disbursement, utility relocation and forest clearance.The Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway (Phase-I, Package-VII) is 97.10% complete, with only 30 metres of land remaining pending because of a dispute between two farmers in Malerkotla district Other stretches of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway also face substantial delays. Package-IX has achieved 73.35% progress while possession of 0.34 km of land in Ludhiana district and utility shifting remain pending. Phase-I Package-XII of the expressway, with only 27.52% progress, is affected by pending possession of 6.92 km in Gurdaspur district due to farmers’ demands for higher compensation, arbitration payments, land disputes and court cases.The ministry also reported that the Ludhiana-Rupnagar (Package-I) project had recorded only 15.31% progress after the concessionaire sought termination in August 2024 because of land issues before resuming work in Feb 2026. Around 8 km of land is still pending because of compensation disbursement issues.The Ludhiana-Bathinda Package-I project has been stalled over 17.3 km in Barnala district since March 2026 due to protests by landowners demanding compensation on a par with Ludhiana district and payment of severance charges. Although land acquisition has been completed, work remains halted on the affected stretch.Similarly, Ludhiana-Bathinda Package-II has only 25.17% physical progress, with work over 12.4 km in Barnala district halted because of similar protests. The ministry said delayed compensation disbursement and demands for higher rates had also prevented handing over 11.7 km of land in Ludhiana district to the concessionaire.Among newer projects, the Phagwara-Hoshiarpur four-lane project has achieved only 20.05% progress, primarily because forest clearance and possession of 21.8 km of land in Kapurthala district remain pending. The Hoshiarpur-Una project has reached 26.18% progress, with forest clearance and possession of 7 km still awaited.MSID:: 132557091 413 |
