CHANDIGARH: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has written to the Punjab Government stating that it has suffered a loss of Rs 28 crore due to protesting farmers on 13 toll plazas of NHAI in six districts of the state since December 15, 2022. NHAI also said that any further loss of revenue due to the agitation by the farmers’ unions will affect the ‘budget allocations’ for new projects in the state. The protests are also affecting the maintenance of existing national highways.
Sources said that Alka Upadhyaya, Secretary of Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), has written a letter to the Punjab Government in which strict actions have been sought against the farmers’ unions. The central government officials have also informed the state government that these dharnas are against the provisions of the State Support Agreement between MoRTH and Punjab Government for NHAI projects to maintain law and order situation on the highways, including the toll plazas.
Out of the 18 toll plazas in nine districts of the state on which the farmers are protesting since December 15 against the AAP government, 13 are on national highways, which are managed by the NHAI (Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Ferozepur, and Barnala districts), and the remaining five are on state highways. Earlier, in a letter to the state government on December 16 last year, the NHAI had pointed out that if this issue is not resolved at the earliest, it will set a wrong precedent. It had also warned of the impacts on operations of new projects and upkeep of the existing national highways.
The protesting farmers are demanding minimum support price guarantee law for crops, wage hike for labourers under MGNREGA, guarantee for alternative crops to paddy, and punishment to the accused of the Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan police firing cases.