NHAI deposits Rs 30 cr, Govt yet to hand over land
SHILLONG: The Umiam-Jorabat four-lane express way has already missed its deadline by four months but the project is far from completion thanks to the delay in handing over of land by the State Government to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), which is implementing the project.
Sources from the NHAI on Wednesday informed that the inability of the State Government to hand over the required land to the agency has virtually derailed the project.
The NHAI has already deposited Rs 30 crore with the State Government for the required land, but the State Government has failed to handover the land.
“What can we do when we have got neither the additional land nor the land of Umsning Bypass,” sources from NHAI said.
If one travels by the road, one can find that the work along the Umsning Bypass has not even started though the land acquisition process for the stretch by Ri Bhoi District Administration has been going on since many years. But the process has become a never ending one.
Sources also said that the work along the stretches where land has been handed over to the NHAI would continue even during the rainy season.
When contacted, Ri Bhoi DC Pooja Pandey said that the acquisition process for both additional land as well as Umsning Bypass is in final stages.
The deadline for the project was March, 2014 but the work along the road has been very slow due to various factors.
