High Court refuses to stay the construction of Delhi-Katra Expressway
Ludhiana: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to stay the construction of the portion of the Delhi-Katra Expressway passing through Punjab. The High Court has unequivocally said that there is no reason to give relief to the petitioners in this case, so it would be unfair to stop this important project. This project is to pass through several districts of Punjab including Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Pathankot.
Many people, including Darshan Singh of Ludhiana, had filed a petition in the High Court demanding a stay on the project, objecting to the compensation issued for land acquisition. During this, National Highway Authority of India’s advocate Chetan Mittal and Abhilakshya Gaind said in the High Court that this project is important not only for Punjab but for the whole country.
The closure of this expressway will lead to loss of employment of thousands of people and the petitioners have no solid reason to seek stay against the project. Due to this, the construction for which they are demanding compensation is outside the highway project. Only the boundary wall comes under the highway project, whose compensation has already been passed.
At the same time, the counsel for the petitioner, while presenting his stand, said in the High Court that the petitioners were not aware of the supplementary award passed for the construction and they did not get any additional compensation. In this case, he requested the court to demand additional time and till then to stay the project, but the High Court clearly refused to issue a stay order.
Meanwhile, the total cost of this project is Rs 39,500 crore, which will be 669 km long. After the construction of this project, the Delhi-Amritsar journey will be reduced from eight hours to just half. Similarly, the journey between Delhi and Katra will also be reduced to half from 12 hours. People will save precious time and money. The project will also connect Sikh shrines Sri Harmandir Sahib, Sri Ber Sahib, Sri Goindwal Sahib, Sri Khadoor Sahib and Tarn Taran. This will also give a boost to tourism. Apart from this, there will be many other benefits.