Land given to firm, widening of Baddi-Nalagarh road set to begin

Ambika Sharma

Solan, April 6

The four-laning work of the Baddi-Nalagarh section of the national highway-105 will begin soon with more than 90 per cent of encumbrance free land having been handed over to the private company entrusted this task.

A 36-km stretch from Pinjore to Nalagarh is to be widened to four lanes. As much as 17.37 km of it lies in Himachal and the remaining portion of the highway falls in Haryana. SDM Nalagarh Mahendra Pal said 15.740 km encumbrance-free land had been handed over to Patel Infrastructure Limited. This is 90.48 per cent of the total road which is supposed to be four-laned from Baddi to Nalagarh.

In Haryana 0.767 km encumbrance-free land has been made available to the company while the remaining 13.033-km land would be handed over within 150 days. A total of 13.8-km portion is supposed to be four-laned in Harayna.

With 16.507 km having been handed over in both the states, the company would now begin the four-laning work soon.

The four-laned road will have 104 culverts, 16 minor bridges and 5 major bridges.

Four-laning of this highway is badly needed as it links the state’s industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh where the passenger car unit (PCU) has reached nearly 35,000 per day. A road is eligible for four-laning after attains 20,000 PCU. Even the need to six-lane this highway was also been felt as the PCU has grown exponentially in the last two decades. This was attributed to the steep growth of industry and industrial goods vehicles from all over the country using this road.

Though this four-laning project was planned years ago issues like high cost of land acquisition delayed the process. A survey to four-lane this highway was undertaken in 2010 by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. More than a decade has been lost in finalizing the project which included its land award, awarding the project, tree axing, etc. The four-laning of the road would take another 30 months after the company begins the construction work.

Being the state’s industrial hub thousands of vehicles, including multi-axle trucks carrying industrial goods, use this highway on a daily basis. As frequent accidents have been witnessed on this highway causing loss of money and human lives its four-laning has been a long-standing demand of the industry.

36-km Pinjore-Nalagarh stretch is to be widened

• 17.37 km of it lies in Himachal and the remaining falls in Haryana
• Four-laning is badly needed as it links the industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh where the passenger car unit (PCU) has reached nearly 35,000 per day.
• The four-laned road will have 104 culverts, 16 minor bridges and 5 major bridges.