Peeved over the alleged indifference of the Haryana state government and the Centre towards the bad condition of the Pinjore-Baddi stretch of National Highway 21A, the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries’ Association (BBNIA) and Laghu Udyog Bharti (LUB) have filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, urging the court to direct officials concerned to repair the highway.

BBNIA president Rajender Guleria and LUB president M P Sharmam in a civil writ petitionm have urged the court to direct the Government of Haryana and the officials concerned to repair the entire stretch of road from Pinjore to Maranwala-Baddi. Earlier, the BBNIA had taken up the issue with the both the governments, to little consequence though.

The members of the Association have also urged the officials to construct a Baddi-Kona-Chandigarh link road via Jayanti Majri and a Basolan-Prempura-Nayagram-Chandigarh link road to avoid traffic jams at Pinjore.

They have also demanded necessary directions from the Union government to the Punjab and Haryana governments to expedite construction work of Chandigarh-Siswan-Baddi road, which would help reduce commuting time.

A deputation of the association had also met Director General (Road Development) few months ago and had apprised him that owing to poor condition of the road, thousands of commuters, including industrial workers of over 5,000 industries of Baddi industrial belt, were facing great inconvenience. “Since the announcement of industrial package for Himachal Pradesh, the Baddi industrial belt has witnessed arrival of large scale industries. Due to this, vehicular traffic on the highway has increased manifold, leading to long traffic jams at Pinjore,” said Guleria.

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