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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Tardy land acquisition hit West Bengal road projects; NHAI face massive problems

Tardy land acquisition hit West Bengal road projects; NHAI face massive problems

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published Published on Apr 5, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 5, 2012
-The Economic Times

Even as the Centre is desperately trying to accommodate its key ally Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the alliance partner is showing no signs of reciprocating the gesture in the crucial highways sector where projects are getting delayed because of tardy land acquisition.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the main implementing agency for highway development in the country, has been facing massive problems in West Bengal as land acquisition for four-laning of national highways has been stuck for several years.

Though NHAI has always faced problems in Left-ruled states like West Bengal and Kerala, it had expected the situation to improve with Banerjee coming to power. However, there has been no improvement.

The main highway project in West Bengal is four-laning of NH-34. The project would have three packages. For this 1336 hectares of land have to be acquired. So far, only 400 hectares - 30% of the requirement - have been acquired.

NH-34 is an important highway and lifeline for North-South road transport in West Bengal as it passes through the state longitudinally and connects the north-eastern states and neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The commercial traffic from Haldia Port, Kolkata and industrial areas in South Bengal heading towards North Bengal have only NH-34 route.

A senior NHAI official said, "We have made several representations to the chief secretary over the last two years but things have not been moving at all. For the last one year West Bengal was in election mode and then the new government took over. Even now there is no improvement."

Over the last two months, NHAI has been receiving final go-ahead for acquisition in a few pockets. "It is only now that some awards for compensation have been given by the district administration, but there is no improvement as far as the pace is concerned," the official said.

NHAI is still trying to regain lost time in Kerala where Left Democratic Front government had been locked in a tussle first over the width of four-lane highways and then land acquisition. After settling the lane width issue, LDF government had put a freeze on all land acquisitions in the state for a year, putting in limbo five four-laning projects on NH-17 and three on NH-47.

This had completely unsettled the national highways plan in the state. NHAI had cancelled all contracts for four-laning. Now, with Congress government in power, the work is gradually coming back on track.

The Economic Times, 5 April, 2012, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/infrastructure/tardy-land-acquisition-hit-west-bengal-road-projects-nhai-face-massive-problems/articleshow/12541136.


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