Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will invite fresh tenders and re-award the work for the terminated and stalled highway projects in Punjab.

The development assumes significance as three Greenfield national highway projects in Punjab, having length of 104 km, with the total capital cost amounting to Rs 3,264 crore, had been recently terminated/withdrawn. This had happened due to non-availability of land as per the conditions of the NHAI within stipulated timelines.

Later, the Centre had taken a serious view of the projects getting stalled for want of land and Gadkari had threatened to cancel all stalled highways.

Rising to the occasion, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and former Chief Secretary Anurag Verma had pulled out all the stops to provide acquired land for the construction of highways while engaging with farmers, who were protesting against what they called “meagre” compensation for their land.

In a demi-official letter to Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the minister said he had directed the NHAI to take early action for inviting fresh tenders and re-award the work, which would otherwise might not be feasible if the possession of land was not timely ensured by the state government.