NHAI faces heat as Parliamentary panel seeks report on Punjab floods, blames elevated road
PTC News Desk: A parliamentary panel has sought a report from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) regarding elevated roads, which it said have blocked the natural flow of water from the agricultural fields..
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing, chaired by Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi, has directed NHAI officials to submit records related to highway planning and the drainage systems put in place for rainwater. The committee held a meeting with the authority’s representatives on Tuesday to review the matter.
The panel highlighted that elevated highways—some rising nearly 10 feet—were obstructing the natural flow of water from agricultural fields, worsening the plight of farmers already struggling with heavy rainfall and river flooding. Key projects under scrutiny in Punjab include highways along Amritsar-Katra, Amritsar-Bathinda, Ludhiana-Bathinda, Sirhind-Sehna, Mohali-Sirhind, as well as the Southern Ludhiana and Northern Patiala bypasses.
Congress MP from Gurdaspur, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, squarely blamed NHAI for the flooding in the Kartarpur corridor, attributing it to the absence of culverts—structures designed to channel water beneath roads and prevent inundation.
In a letter to Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Randhawa demanded action against the officials responsible. He added that he had asked NHAI officers five days earlier to inspect the corridor site, identify the cause of waterlogging and propose corrective measures.
“But none of them paid attention. When I pointed out that the flooding occurred due to the authority’s negligence, an officer failed to give me a proper reply,” Randhawa said.
- PTC NEWS
