‘Land acquisition issue yet to be resolved’
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has refuted recent claims made by Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma that land issues pertaining to the two mega road projects in the State have been resolved.
An NHAI official dealing with the bye-pass project on Sunday said the State Government is yet to hand over the land for the six-kilometer Umsning bye-pass.
“If Umsning bye pass land is handed over to us we can immediately start the work,” the official added.
Dr Sangma, had, earlier stated that there were no hurdles for the two mega road projects in the State since the contentious land acquisition issue had already been resolved.
Work for widening of NH-40 began early this year, but it came to a standstill at Umsning in Ri-Bhoi district after controversy relating to land compensation and re-alignment cropped up recently.
The problem cropped up after some NGOs and residents of the area refused to part away with their land for the mega project.
Officials from NHAI, however, maintained that the project will not be delayed and it will be completed by 2014. The construction would resume in full swing once the monsoon season is over.
According to NHAI officials, if the project is delayed then some sort of penalty would be imposed on ILFS-Ramkee (JV) which is implementing the ambitious project.
The NHAI also expressed surprise that the State PHE department had suddenly revised their charges for removing various pipelines along the highway. Initially in 2008, the PHE department had asked for Rs 3-4 crore but now they have submitted a fresh demand which is four to five times higher than the earlier quoted figures.
“It is very shocking and the PHE department needs to justify this revision,” an official said on the request of anonymity.
It may be noted that the Assam Government has also handed over eighty per cent of the six kilometer land to the NHAI required for the widening of the Jorabat-Umiam highway as certain stretches of the highway falls under the jurisdiction of Assam.
“We are likely to get the remaining portion of land from Assam by the end of this month,” the NHAI official added.