हिंदी
(Referring to Nitin Gadkari’s letter to CM, says all efforts must be taken to retrieve the Expressway project after termination of 3 projects across 104 km costing Rs 3,263 km and potential cancelation of 8 more projects costing Rs 14,288 crore across 293 km)
Chandigarh, August 10, 2024
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today expressed shock that chief minister Bhagwant Mann had compromised Punjab’s development and endangered its future generations by willfully neglecting to acquire land for the Delhi – Amritsar – Katra Expressway and refusing to ensure the safety of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officers and staff due to which three NHAI projects with a total length of 104 kilometer costing Rs 3,263 crore had been terminated even as eight other projects across 293 km and costing Rs 14,288 crore were at the risk of cancellation.
In a statement here, the SAD president expressed shock and alarm at the manner in which the chief minister had allowed governance and law and order situation to decay to such an extent that the union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari was compelled to ask him to intervene to retrieve the project.
Mr Sukhbir Badal said it was shocking that the Aam Aadmi Party’s guarantee to the centre at a meeting with Mr Nitin Gadkari regarding the NHAI projects did not have any sanctity. “Mr Gakdari has in a letter to the chief minister pointed out that despite assurances by the State’s Public Works minister in a meeting on July 15 last month the Punjab government had failed to resolve pending issues related to land acquisition as well as law and order”. He said the union minister has also rapped the government for failing to secure the safety of NHAI officials while pointing out how an engineer of a concessionary had been brutally assaulted in Jalandhar recently.
Asking the chief minister to take all steps needed to retrieve the Expressway project, Mr Bada said compensation should be awarded to farmers as per their demand and past history. He said problems in land acquisition had occurred because the chief minister had refused to meet agitating farmers demanding a fair price for their land besides inordinate delay in declaration of compensation and disbursement of awards to farmers.
Asking the chief minister to stop adopting an anti-farmer stance, the SAD president said the former should learn from former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal who had given a compensation of Rs 1.93 crore per acre to farmers for land acquired for the Southern bypass. He said now after a span of more than seven years, the AAP government was offering farmers a base rate of only Rs 30 lakh per acre for acquiring land for the Northern bypass. “The situation is the same in other parts of the State with the AAP government offering peanuts to farmers which have endangered highway projects which are inextricably linked with the development of the State”. He also reminded the chief minister that the former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government had made highway development a number one priority and had successfully developed projects worth Rs 30,000 crore. “You should build on this legacy instead of negating it”, Mr Badal advised the chief minister.
The SAD president also asked the chief minister to stop wasting time in propaganda exercises, political vendetta programmes against the opposition and dancing to the tunes of his master Arvind Kejriwal and devote his time to the service of the State. “You should not ignore your constitutional obligations and should perform your official duties diligently to ensure the development of Punjab as well as ensuring a better future for our coming generations”, Mr Badal told the chief minister.
