Nitin Gadkari Urges Punjab Government to Address Safety Concerns for NHAI Officials

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has written a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Gadkari has written in his letter that the law and order situation in Punjab is not good. Officials and contractors of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are getting harassed. Gadkari has raised questions on the Punjab government regarding the safety of officials and contractors.

Gadkari wrote that the National Highways Authority of India is building greenfield and brownfield corridors. One of these corridors is the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, which is being built in Punjab. The safety of the officials and contractors of the National Highways Authority of India engaged in this work is at risk. Apart from this, Gadkari has also raised the issue of land acquisition.

Gadkari wrote that an engineer was badly beaten up in Jalandhar. A complaint has been lodged in this matter, but strict action should be taken. The second case is from Ludhiana, where some people attacked the project camp of the expressway contractor. The engineer threatened to burn the camp and all the employees. Despite the written complaint, the case has not been registered yet. Nitin Gadkari has demanded immediate strict action against the accused. He said that in the meeting, it was said to acquire land and improve law and order. However, there has been no progress in this so far.

Gadkari has said that the National Highway Authority has already canceled three projects in Punjab. Their total length was 104 kilometers and the cost was going to be Rs 3263 crore. If the situation does not improve, the National Highway Authority will have to cancel eight more projects. Their cost is Rs 14,288 crore and the length is 293 kilometers. In such a situation, he has demanded to improve the law and order in Punjab.