CHANDIGARH, Aug 9 — Two years after work began on an ambitious non-motorised transport (NMT) green corridor, the Union Territory administration has shelved the ₹5-crore project following the Heritage Committee’s refusal to approve it and sustained objections from local residents.
The 8-km corridor, part of the Chandigarh Master Plan-2031, was intended to link the Capitol Complex in Sector 1 to Sector 56 along the N-Choe, offering a dedicated route for cyclists and pedestrians. Equipped with lighting, it was pitched as a measure to cut carbon emissions and improve non-motorised travel safety.
However, a senior urban planning department official said the Heritage Committee found the project unnecessary given the city’s existing infrastructure. “When the Master Plan was prepared, there were not many cycle tracks in Chandigarh. Now, major roads already have them,” the official said.
The panel also sided with residents’ concerns over the corridor’s location through green belts and parks. “It concluded that such a route would create a contradictory movement system for pedestrians, as cyclists could use any of the tracks in these areas,” the official added. The committee observed that this would undermine the original purpose of green spaces — “serene environments meant for the care of the mind, body, and soul.”
UT chief engineer C.B. Ojha confirmed the sequence of events. “Following objections from Sector 10 residents, we referred the project back to the urban planning department for review. We have not yet received their reply,” he said.
The project’s path was fraught with interruptions. Work began in June 2023 but was halted in September that year after then UT administrator Banwarilal Purohit suspended it in response to a complaint to the Prime Minister’s Office alleging “illegal” felling of around 200 trees.
In November, administrator Gulab Chand Kataria cleared its resumption after the engineering department assured that no trees would be cut. Work restarted in December but was again met with resistance from the Sector 10 residents’ welfare association, triggering another review.
This was the first of 11 proposed NMT corridors in Chandigarh under the Master Plan-2031. At its launch, former UT adviser Dharam Pal had called it a “pioneering step towards sustainable mobility.”
