Three years ago, when the Centre declared 38 highway projects in Punjab with a promise of 825 km of new tarmac worth ₹42,000 crore, the politicians in the state hailed it as "new dawn for connectivity". The leaflets were pretty, the figures impressive. But on the ground? The scene is much dustier.
Seventy are still pending. And, so far, just seven are anywhere near completion. Four have been shelved, one of them is tentatively back on the cards now, and five have gone totally cold, mired in court cases, farmer agitations and the thorny politics of land. That still leaves 23 projects worth more than ₹22,000 crore stuck in a pace so slow that locals joke that "by the time these roads open, our children will be the ones driving on them". Punjab currently has about 4,000 km of national highways. But at this pace, experts warn, the state risks falling even further behind in the national infrastructure race, particularly in comparison to its agile neighbours.
The roadblocks, literally so
Some of the most vital link roads have encountered issues:
- South Ludhiana Bypass (₹956.94 crore), contract cancelled in January.
- Amritsar–Ghoman Tanda (Package-2)(₹818.41 crore), scrapped in December 2023.
- Delhi–Amritsar–Katra Expressway (Phase-1), only 11 km land in possession; machines at standstill.
- Ludhiana–Rupnagar Highway (₹1,488.23 crore), crossed "complete" in March but now going into a new tender again.
A senior official confessed off the record, "It's not the money. Land has become a bigger political issue than the roads themselves."
A glimmer of activity
Not all is quite at a standstill. The Delhi–Amritsar–Katra Expressway also has a December 2026 deadline. Ludhiana–Bathinda Expressway has 95% land acquisition and an ambitious March 2028 deadline.
Bypasses at Amritsar (Pkg-3), Malout–Dabwali and a critical section from IT City Chowk to Kurali are in different stages of development, between 60% and 94% complete. Scattered bits of upgradation work in Batala, Kapurthala, Jalalabad, Abohar and Patiala–Sangrur also move at a snail's pace.
How Punjab's neighbours raced ahead
The comparison is almost cringe-worthy. Himachal Pradesh received only 4 mega projects worth ₹38,000 crore, but still managed to complete the land acquisition rapidly. Haryana, in five years, attracted ₹7,700 crore worth of projects and completed the Trans-Haryana Expressway, Sohna Elevated Corridor, and Palwal Flyover. Two more will be completed in two years.
The farmer factor
The largest obstacle is land, and those who own it. Farmers in most districts are simply not prepared to give up fertile land. Apart from land prices, there's distrust as well: allegations of poor compensation, delayed payments, and lack of clarity on resettlement.
On the government's part, the speed of administration is snail-like. A highway contractor joked, "Our bulldozers remain idle because papers move slower than bullock carts."
Government optimism vs public impatience
Public Works Principal Secretary Ravi Bhagat sounds optimistic:
> We will revive axed projects with the Centre's assistance. We're sitting down with farmers, attempting to remove misconceptions. The goal is to settle compensation differences through negotiations.
But tolerance is wearing thin. A Ludhiana transporter spoke candidly
> We have more boards announcing projects than actually exist to drive on. These timelines are just figures, no one believes them anymore.
For the time being, Punjab's "highway revolution" is rather a patchwork of half-built pillars, ploughed-over fields and diversion boards. The dream still exists, but lost somewhere in dust, paperwork, and politics.
