New Delhi: NHIDCL, a government company mandated to fast-track highway projects, on Thursday said it will ensure urgent repair of highways on Assam-Tripura border to improve connectivity to Tripura.
National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) which has been asked to repair roads and bridges there, has already invited tenders for the work. Last week, the Tripura government sought the Centre’s help to repair the highway stretches to ensure supply of essential commodities to the state, following which Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari reassured that repair work would be taken up on a “war footing”. “We are ensuring urgent repair of the 17.95 km road section from Chandkhera to Kurti Bridge on NH-208A in Assam, besides stretches on NH 44 in Tripura . We have already rushed our teams there for the repair, restoration and upgradation work,” NHIDCL MD Anand Kumar told. Kumar said that given the hardships faced by the people there, NHIDCL has started urgent repair work.
“Under medium term-strategy, NHIDCL has invited short-term tenders for repair while for long-term repair, which includes black topping etc of the highways, bids are being invited,” he said.
Last week, Gadkari has said, “I have instructed officials to work on a war footing to fix NH-44 so as to improve connectivity to Tripura.” The NH-44 constitutes Shillong-Passi-C288 Badarpur- Agartala Sabroom Shillong-Nongstoin section. “I would be monitoring the progress of this highway on a fortnightly basis,” the minister had said.
Earlier, Tripura PWD minister Badal Chowdhury had urged the Centre and the Assam government to take immediate repair of highways in Assam as thousands of trucks carrying essential commodities to Tripura were stranded.
A long stretch of the Assam-Agartala section at Lowerpoa in Karimganj district of Assam has remained badly damaged for about a year and about 10-15 km stretch is unfit for movement of vehicles for the past three months, Chowdhury had said. On several occasions in the past, commodities were transported to the state from Kolkata port by using water ways of Bangladesh through the Ashuganj river port on Meghna. (PTI)
