Delay in East-West Corridor project

JORHAT, Dec 17: The East-West Corridor project taken up by the National Highways Authority under Ministry of Shipping, Road, Transport, and Highways of the Central Government is moving at a snail’s pace in Assam. The progress of the project in Assam has turned into a serious cause of concern as in many places no remarkable progress of works has been noticed so far after termination of the completion-estimated period at several parts. This apart, many works were behind their scheduled time of completion without any progress on its part.

According to the report of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the completion estimated periods of the parts like Silchar-Udarband (As-1), Lumding-Doboka (As-15), Lanka-Doboka (As-16), Doboka-Nagaon (As-17), Nagaon Bypass (As-18), Nagaon-Dharamtul (As-2), Dharamtul-Sonapur (As-19) and Dharamtul-Sonapur (As-20) have been expired in September 2007. But there is no any completion of works in the State till date.

According to the official sources, the main problems affecting the progress have been the delay in disbursement of compensation for land acquisition in the State. Officials also pointed out that the East-West Corridor in Assam was getting delayed at several points due to delay in acquisition of land and delay in demolition of buildings and structures on acquired land. Sources further said that, at several places the electric posts are yet to be shifted.

The corridor project passes through the States of Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujrat comprising 3,300 kilometre. The routes- NH-54, NH-36, NH-37, NH-31, NH-31 C, NH-57, NH-28, NH-25, NH-76, NH-14, NH-15, NH-8 A and NH-8 B are under the mega project across the country and NH-31, NH-37, NH-36 and NH-54 fall in Assam. But all the highways- Guwahati-Nagaon, Nagaon-Dabaka and Dabaka-Silchar routes are still half-done even after completion of the estimated period of the department concerned. Though, it was announced by the Government that the East West Corridor to be substantially completed by 2009 but the existing Government during the period have failed to do it. THE SENTINEL