Chandigarh: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has warned him that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is poised to cancel eight major highway projects, valued at Rs 14,288 crore if the prevailing law and order situation in the state does not improve.
The letter follows alarming reports of violence and intimidation related to the ongoing construction of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway. The incidents include attacks on engineers and contractors in Jalandhar as well as threats made by miscreants in Ludhiana to harm project staff and facilities. Union Minister Gadkari emphasised the critical nature of these projects, noting that they are Greenfield corridors.
"Cancelling even one package could render the entire stretch ineffective," the Minister said. Tagging photographic evidence of recent assaults to underscore the urgency of the situation, Union Minister Gadkari outlined serious safety concerns affecting NHAI officials, contractors, and their teams, along with ongoing land acquisition challenges.
Reacting to Gadkari's statement, AAP leader and Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, "I think that deliberately, under a well-planned strategy, under a conspiracy, he has given such a statement."
"The situation of law and order in Punjab is good and industries are coming to Punjab and the state is moving ahead...I think the BJP hates Punjab," Cheema added.
In a review meeting held on July 15, Union Minister Gadkari had received assurances from stakeholders that issues related to land acquisition and law enforcement would be prioritised. However, he expressed his disappointment, saying, "No progress has been made, and the situation has further worsened."
He said that due to unresolved land acquisition matters and deteriorating law and order, several concessionaires have sought to terminate their contracts and have raised claims against the NHAI. The NHAI has already terminated three projects, amounting to Rs 3,263 crore, due to land availability challenges.
Union Minister Gadkari laid the foundation stones of 29 highway projects in Punjab in January this year, which are worth Rs 4,000 crore. Responding to the letter, State BJP Vice-President and former MLA Arvind Khanna said on Saturday that the withdrawal of three national highway projects from Punjab was unfortunate for the state.
MLA Khanna said the Aam Aadmi Party government has failed miserably in providing land in Punjab for the Rs 3,264-crore project. He added that the law and order situation has deteriorated to such an extent that halting highway projects in Punjab due to the refusal of contractors to work is a major failure of the state government.
This shows how serious this government is about the development and infrastructure of the state, he said. He said if these road projects were operational, the state would have received huge economic and business benefits. He added that the state government is also sidelining the matter of Rs 250 crore scholarship for Scheduled Castes children studying in government schools, which clearly "shows that its intentions are flawed".
Khanna said the government has proved that it neither has any experience in running a government nor does it have any seriousness towards the development of the state.
