Proposal for four-laning of 23.8-km Mukerian-Gurdaspur road sent to NHAI

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, August 12

With exigencies of the Army looming large, the proposal to upgrade the single-lane Mukerian-Gurdaspur road into a four-lane highway has been sent to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the Punjab Government.

Army movement hit

The Tibri Cantonment is located on the road. The Army’s movement is severely restricted because the surface remains unmotorable throughout the year.

Over the years, the 23.80-km road had become the Achilles’ Heel of the Gurdaspur administration with water-logging being the main problem. Due to this, potholes frequently appear on the road, even after repairs.

The road is used by commuters travelling to Chandigarh, New Delhi and other cities of Punjab. Tourists bound for J&K, HP and the Kartarpur corridor, too, use this stretch. It is the favourite road of farmers of this sugarcane-rich area to take their produce to sugar mills of Mukerian and Dasuya.

However, what prompted Deputy Commissioner (DC) Himanshu Aggarwal to write to the NHAI and the Chief Secretary seeking a four-lane NH was the fact that the 10,000-strong Tibri Cantonment is located on the road. The Army’s movement is severely restricted because the surface remains unmotorable throughout the year.

The DC said the project’s cost is pegged at Rs 295 crore which includes the cost of land acquisition. “The NHAI has already forwarded the proposal to the PWD which, in any case, will be the nodal agency. The average width will be between 7 to 10 m,” he said.

On July 27, 2015, three Lashkar-e-Taiba trained terrorists took over the Dinanagar police station. With the local police failing to put up a fight, the Army was called in. However, due to massive potholes and other impediments, the soldiers had got late in reaching the site leading to the operation being delayed.

On January 2, 2016, the Pathankot IAF base came under siege from four Jaish-e-Mohammad militants. An SOS was sent to Tibri following which the pitiable condition of the road once again came up for discussion.