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Amritsar, Punjab: STALL MODE 140 mishaps, 96 lives lost; Amritsar DC urges Punjab Chief Secretary to speed up four laning of 20-km patch. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is riding on its success across the country but what about the 20-km stretch on the Amritsar-Jalandhar highway?

In the past two-and-a-half years, this section between Dhilwan and Bhidhipur has turned into a killer stretch with 140 accidents, 96 deaths and as many injured.

Equipped with this data, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu has written to Punjab Chief Secretary S.C. Aggarwal, urging him to take up the matter with the Government of India for expe- diting the four laning of this narrow stretch. The other option, he said, was for the state government to either get this stretch four-laned with its own funds or at least carry out main- tenance work.

It was way back in 2006, read the letter, that the Punjab Public Works Department (PWD) had handed over this portion of the highway to the NHAI for four laning and upgrading.

Of the 80-km stretch between Amritsar and Jalandhar, 60 km is almost complete. It’s the 20-km between Dhilwan and Bhidhipur that lies in a dilapidated state. It has become a bottleneck and a major accident-prone area.

Further, stated the letter, after handing over of this stretch, no maintenance work was carried out as four-laning of this road was expected soon.

Tenders were floated but the NHAI terminated the contract due to some reasons. The letter read that the work was then proposed to be exe- cuted under the BOT (annuity) basis, which was also shelved at the Central level. Next came the decision to execute the project under the BOT (toll) basis but the idea was abandoned.

It was then contemplated that this length should be cov- ered under the adjoining Dhilwan-Amritsar four-laning project by the change of scope provisions but even this pro- posal could not get through, said the DC in his letter.

Talking to HT, the DC said, “The narrow stretch is to blame for the increasing number of accidents and deaths here. The NHAI must show urgency and widen the stretch to put an end to mishaps here.“

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