Hindustan Times: Punjab: Wednesday, May 10, 2017.
Dashing hopes
of owners of hotels, restaurants and bars in Sectors 35 and 43 and those
located along the Dakshin Marg from the JW Marriott roundabout to the Tribune
Chowk, the UT administration has refused to change the route of National
Highway-21 to the Purv Marg.
Outlets along
this route have not been serving liquor since the Supreme Court order banning
sale of liquor within 500m of national and state highways came into effect on
April 1. If the route of the highway is not changed, around 40 outlets that
serve liquor will have to down their shutters, rendering nearly 2,000 people
unemployed, industry insiders claim.
Last month,
local MP Kirron Kher had written to UT adviser Parimal Rai requesting him to
direct the authorities concerned ‘to take immediate action to resolve the
issue’.
She said as
per as per information procured by a hotel representative under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the
NH-21 has a different route (from Tribune Chowk to the Sector 47-48 roundabout
on Purv Marg and then taking right towards the road dividing Sectors 39 and
56).
Official
take
UT chief
engineer Mukesh Anand said the NHAI had clarified that the information provided
under the RTI, of the proposed route, was shared inadvertently and nothing
could be done in this regard.
Chandigarh
Hospitality Association president Ankit Gupta said, “We request to change the
route of the highway since heavy vehicles are not allowed on it from 6am to
11pm as per a UT administration notification. Seamless traffic flow is the need
of the hour on NH-21 and re-routing will be the right move in that direction as
well.”
Surprisingly,
in June 2001, the road transport and highways ministry had sanctioned around ₹50
crore under the central road fund to develop NH-21 on the Purv Marg. However,
the project was delayed as a portion of a gurdwara on the stretch was located
in the middle of the road. The wall was removed later and work was completed in
March 2015.
A senior
official from the road transport ministry said, “We have been following up with
the UT administration to change the route of the national highway to the Purv
Marg as this provides vehicles carrying heavy loads with an uninterrupted
route. This is not possible on the current route due to smaller size of roads
and restrictions on the movement of heavy vehicles.”
40 outlets
to close, 2,000 to lose jobs
If the route
of the highway is not changed, around 40 outlets that serve liquor will have to
down their shutters, rendering nearly 2,000 people unemployed, industry
insiders claim.
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