From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Secretary of Ministry of Surface Transport and Highway (MoSTH), A K Upadhyay along with Director General of BRO Lt Gen Ravi Shankar on Thursday arrived here to have an on-spot inspection of Assam-Agartala National Highway (NH-44).
Soon after landing at Agartala Airport, the MoSTH Secretar flown to Dharmanagar to inspect the condition of NH-44, entry point of Tripura.
Upadhyay also visited some spots from Chouraibari to Panisagar to explore the feasibility of undertaking face-lift works of the NH-44, said an official of PWD here on Thursday.
Later, he met Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and discussed various aspect related to the much-delayed face-lift work of NH-44, considered lifeline of Tripura, Cachar and Mizoram.
According to sources, the Chief Minister requested the MoSTH Secretary to undertake two-lane work of the 337 KM National Highway at the earliest.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his visit in 2005 had declared that the NH-44 would be converted into four-lane.
But seven years after announcement only five percent of work has been done. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has submitted a draft proposal to convert Assam – Agartala NH 44 into two-lane.
The state government had been demanding conversion of the existing NH-44 into two-lane for keeping in mind of the state poor road connectivity with the rest of the country.
According to the draft proposal the existing distance between Churaibari and Agartala will be shortened by 21 km. The current distance between the border town and the state capital is 200 km.
The centre had sanctioned Rs 31 crores for reducing curves as early as possible.