After Covid-19 pandemic, now the ongoing farmers’ agitation has cast a shadow on the proposed Delhi-Katra Expressway corridor. This includes the Punjab stretch which has been converted into a Greenfield project by providing a direct link from Nakodar onward to the five historic towns of Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, and Tarn Taran, leading up to Amritsar.

However, in the absence of a mandatory public hearing of the affected villagers due to ongoing agitation, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Environment Ministry has deferred the Rs 35,000-crore project to be executed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) under the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry.

The total length of the proposed project is 361.656 km — 262.656 km for Punjab Section of Delhi-Katra Expressway plus 99 km for Greenfield Amritsar Connectivity. About 24,700 trees will make way for the much-hyped project.  The Delhi-Katra Expressway proposes to cover journey from Katra to Delhi in about seven hours and from Jammu to Delhi in just over six hours.

Going through the project details submitted by the project proponent (NHAI) and the Gurugram-based EIA consultant Feedback Infra Pvt Ltd, the EAC members noted that the proposed alignment will also cross 55 canals, 20 drains, four rivers, five nallah and three ponds in the Punjab Section of Delhi-Katra Expressway, whereas, 20 canals, 14 drains, 3 river and 1 pond will be crossed by the proposed alignment of Amritsar connectivity.

The public hearing was conducted in December 2020 at all eight districts of Punjab namely Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Amritsar by the Punjab Government. Sources said the Government had proposed to complete the landmark Katra-Delhi expressway corridor by 2023.

The Government hopes that it will promote religious tourism as the road will connect the holy cities of Katra in Jammu and Amritsar in Punjab.

The project involved the diversion of forest land. About 76 hectares of Protected Forest (roadside and canal-side plantations declared as forest) will be affected by the proposed expressway.

Application for forest clearance is yet to be submitted, noted the EAC members in a meeting held on February 11, 2021.

Also, the project alignment is crossing the Beas River and Kali Bein conservation reserve. About 3,949.7 hectares shall be acquired from 3,199 landholders (including 1,716 nos. of private titleholders) for the project.

The NHAI claimed that the project shall provide multifold benefits like reduced travel time as well as employment to the locals. As per the law, the public hearing for Gurdaspur district was held on December 7, 2020 as a stretch of 44.812 km of expressway is to pass through 45 villages of the said district. However, it could not be completed in view of the farmers’ agitation.

“It was also alleged by the villagers that no prior information regarding public hearing was given in their village. The attendees urged to postpone the public hearing till ‘Kisaan Aandolan’ is concluded. To control the law and order situation, the public hearing was postponed by the Presiding Officer,” noted the EAC which then decided to defer the proposal.