NHAI seeks apex court nod to construct bridge over SYL canal in Fatehgarh Sahib

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to construct a major bridge over the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal at Pawala village in Fatehgarh Sahib as part of a new Greenfield Expressway which will connect Chandigarh with Amritsar-Jamnagar Economic Corridor.

The 135-km Expressway will start from Tricity (Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula) to Sirhind (Fatehgarh Sahib district) and will terminate at Sehna (Barnala district) on Amritsar-Jamnagar Corridor.

The project is divided into four packages -- Mohali to Sirhind 27.37 km; Sirhind to Malerkotla 51.83 km; Malerkotla to Sangrur 33.3 km and Sangrur to Barnala 21.79 km. Land acquisition for all four packages has been completed and notifications under Section 3D of the National Highways Act, 1956, have already been issued in 2022-23, the NHAI submitted.

The NHAI is executing through a contractor the Greenfield Alignment Sirhind Mohali NH 205 AG of length 27.37 km under Bharatmala Pariyojna Phase 1 which starts from Bhagomajra village, SAS Nagar, at NH-205-A and ends at Saidpura village, Sirhind, on NH-44 (Delhi- Ambala-Amritsar NH-44).

The work in package 1, Mohali to Sirhind -- which will connect Chandigarh with NH 44 on Delhi-Amritsar National Highway -- has already been started. This whole corridor (Mohali-Sirhind-Sehna) will provide connectivity with the upcoming Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway which is about 655 km long and work on that expressway is in advanced stages of construction, it submitted.

The complete stretch, Mohali-Sirhind-Sehna, will connect Chandigarh with New Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway and Amritsar-Jamnagar Economic Corridor, thus providing high-speed connectivity. It will also enhance connectivity with Chandigarh Airport from NH-44 and major towns such as Rajpura, Sirhind, Khanna, etc, the NHAI said.

The states of Haryana and Punjab had earlier told the top court that they did not dispute the national importance of the project and may not have a serious objection on the NHAI’s prayers. However, Punjab has sought certain clarifications from NHAI on the ownership of land on which the bridge would be constructed, while Haryana has put forth certain conditions.

The court’s permission is needed in view of the Supreme Court’s November 30, 2016 order directing the states of Punjab and Haryana to maintain status quo and appointing receivers of the lands, works, properties and portions of the SYL canal.

Earlier, the Punjab government had refused to grant a no objection certificate (NOC) for construction of the bridge over the SYL canal in view of the November 30, 2016 status quo order of the Supreme Court.

The project as a whole is part of the Baddi-Bathinda corridor which will link major industrial town Baddi with Jamnagar/Kandla Port in Gujarat via the Amritsar-Jamnagar corridor and Ludhiana-Bathinda corridor. The project has individual direct and high-speed connectivity from NH-44 (GT Road/Old NH-1) to state capital Chandigarh and Mohali on a design speed of 100 kmph which will reduce the travel time by 50% to less than 30 minutes.

The top width of the canal is 60 metres but the NHAI proposes to construct a High-Level Bridge with a clear span of 76 metres at Pawala village in Fatehgarh Sahib. Since the clear span of 76 metres is far more than the cross section of the SYL canal which is 60 metres wide at this location, it does not create any infringement to the cross section of canal as available at this site and construction of a bridge with a clear span of 76 metres would not violate the top court’s orders, the NHAI submitted.