The ambitious Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) project, that is expected to connect the four mega-cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, has been held up with at least 18 of the 57 under-construction stretches running behind schedule. The ministry of statistics and programme implementation's quarterly report released recently notes that on certain stretches, only 27-28% of the work has been completed. The infrastructure and project monitoring division has attributed the time and cost over-runs to adverse law and order in states like Bihar and Jharkhand, difficulty in land acquisition in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and pending court cases in West Bengal and Gujarat.