10 Crore Per Km Mohali Road Project: Senior Congress leader and Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Friday strongly criticised the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, alleging large-scale misuse of public funds in a high-cost road maintenance project cleared by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).
Calling it an “unprecedented and shocking loot” of Punjab’s resources, Khaira said the project reflects blatant financial mismanagement under the guise of infrastructure development. His remarks come in response to a detailed report published in The Tribune highlighting the unusually high cost of the proposed project.
According to the report, GMADA has invited tenders to outsource the maintenance, resurfacing and beautification of 83 kilometres of roads in Mohali for a period of 10 years. The estimated cost stands at Rs 10 crore per kilometre, pushing the total project value to nearly Rs 1,000 crore.
Khaira said such rates were unprecedented in Punjab’s history, particularly for maintaining already-built roads. He termed the pricing “obscene and unjustifiable,” arguing that routine road upkeep has never required such massive expenditure.
The Congress leader further alleged that the tender conditions were deliberately designed to benefit a single private company from Delhi, while systematically excluding 383 experienced road contractors from Punjab. He claimed this was done to favour outside interests at the expense of local businesses.
“This tender reeks of favouritism, nepotism and political patronage. Punjab’s money is being siphoned off to companies from outside the state, while local contractors are being pushed to the margins,” Khaira alleged.
He warned that sidelining Punjab-based contractors would harm the state’s economy and deprive local workers of employment opportunities. Khaira also questioned the logic of outsourcing long-term road maintenance at inflated rates instead of strengthening existing government mechanisms.
The controversy is expected to trigger a political storm, with opposition parties likely to raise the issue in the Punjab Assembly and demand a thorough review of the tender process. As of now, there has been no official response from GMADA or the Punjab government on the allegations raised by Khaira.