Chandigarh:
The Senior Congress leader and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja said that the continuous delay in the Chautala–Dabwali–Panipat–Meerut National Highway (NH-709) project, which was announced in 2021, is extremely unfortunate. At the time of its announcement, it was said this important highway would be completed by October 2026, but the current situation is that even its Detailed Project Report (DPR) has not yet received final approval.
Kumari Selja said this project is not limited to road construction alone, but is an important development corridor that directly connects the border regions of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan with Uttar Pradesh. Completion of this highway would strengthen regional connectivity, ease transportation, and give a new direction to the overall economic development of the area. She said that farmers from Sri Ganganagar, Abohar, Chautala, Dabwali, Sirsa, Fatehabad, and surrounding areas were expected to benefit greatly from this project. Faster, cheaper, and smoother transportation of agricultural produce such as cotton, wheat, mustard, and other crops to markets and industrial centers would have been possible, reducing farmers’ costs and ensuring better prices for their produce. However, due to the delay in the project, farmers are still facing the same old difficulties.
Kumari Selja said the NH-709 is equally important for industries. This highway would have facilitated easy movement of raw materials and finished goods, encouraged new industrial investments, and created employment opportunities for local youth. Several industrial areas, including Panipat, Hisar, and Sirsa, were to benefit directly, but the project currently remains stalled. Kumari Selja questioned why there is such a delay in decision-making when lakhs of rupees have already been spent on preparing the DPR and it has been pending with the central government for the last two years. Such procrastination in important development-related projects raises serious questions about the government’s working style.
Kumari Selja demanded that the central government immediately approve the DPR of the NH-709 Chautala–Dabwali–Panipat–Meerut project, announce a clear and practical timeline for construction, and implement the announcement made in 2021 at the earliest. She said that this highway is directly linked to increasing farmers’ income, expansion of industries, and overall development of border areas, and keeping it pending any longer is against public interest.
