Centre pulls up Orissa over slow pace of NH projects

The Union ministry of road transport and highways has pulled up the Orissa government over its extremely slow pace of land acquisition for five major national highway (NH) projects already awarded by the ministry.

“Five major NH projects already awarded to the state government are moving at a slow pace due to pending land acquisition. We have asked the state government to expedite the work on these projects,” said A K Upadhyay, secretary, Union ministry of road transport and highways told newspersons after meeting top officials of state commerce & transport department.

“Besides land acquisition, there are issues relating to forest clearance which have held up these protects. Also, there are several vacancies for the posts of special land acquisition officers which we have asked the state government to fill up,” he added.

The projects in question include four-laning of Bhubaneswar-Puri section on NH-203, four-laning of Sambalpur-Bargarh section of NH-6, four laning of Rimuli-Roxy-Rajamunda section of NH-215, Panikoili-Rimuli section of NH-215 and six-laning of Bhubaneswar-Jagatpur-Chandikhole section of NH-5.

The concession agreements for all these projects were signed last year except the Panikoili-Rimuli section, the pact for this project being inked in September this year.

Disbursement of compensation has not started for most of these NH projects even after six months of depositing the award amount with the concerned competent authority of land acquisition.

Moreover, the forest diversion proposals for three projects are yet to be sent to the regional office of Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) for Stage-I clearance even though these proposals were given by National Highways Authority of India (NHSI) two years back.

The delay in submission of proposals is attributed to delay in inspection of the stretch and obtaining palli sabha resolutions.

The estimates of shifting of electrical utilities and for relocation of affected water supply and sewer lines are yet to be furnished.

For four-laning of Bhubaneswar-Puri section involving a length of 67.25 km, possession has been given only for 19.80 km. Though the eastern regional office of Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) has accorded Stage-I approval for forest clearance, the state government is yet to issue permission for tree felling and furnish the cost of compensatory afforestation.

Similarly, for the four-laning of Sambalpur-Bargarh, possession has been given only for 17 km of the total stretch of 88 km.

This project has also received Stage-I forest clearance. The four-laning of Rimuli-Roxy-Rajamunda section of NH-215, involves a stretch of 96 km but possession has been given only for 12 km. Likewise for four-laning of Panikoili-Rimuli section of NH-215, only 31 km is available for construction.