GUWAHATI, Jan. 23: The “Four-Lane National Highway Demand Committee” has made a second representation to Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, reiterating its opposition to the proposed move to realign National Highway (NH)-715 into a four-lane highway from Kaliabor Tiniali in Nagaon district to Numaligarh in Golaghat district
Instead, the committee has demanded that NH-715, which passes through Kuwaritol, Hatbor and Jakhalabandha from Kaliabor Tiniali, be upgraded and widened.
The committee maintained that the proposed diversion of NH-715 would affect over 80,000 residents.
The representatives of the committee had first met the Union Minister earlier on December 15, 2024 in New Delhi and informed that the proposed new route “would take a U-turn through paddy fields, water bodies and an elephant corridor, and bypass the three areas.”
In the latest representation to Gadkari, the committee informed that a survey had found 1652 business establishments, including 95 percent of permanent business establishments, in Kuwaritol Hatbor and Jakhalabandha would be impacted by the proposed diversion of NH-715.
“The survey conclusively demonstrates that the proposed diversion will spell a death-knell to the economy of Kuwaritol, Hatbor and Jakhalabandha,” the committee informed mediapersons here on Thursday.
The diversion, it informed, would entail the construction of a new route over 14 kilometres, with a significant cost of land acquisition, earth filling, bridges, etc., passing through eco-sensitive water bodies and an elephant corridor.
“Upgrade and widening of the existing national highway will be at a far lesser cost as, in most places of the existing route, the road is already 60 metres wide if not more,” it stated.
Besides, the committee said the diversion of the route would have an adverse environmental impact.
Notably, the Gauhati High Court has recently directed the central government and the NHAI to submit their response within two weeks to writ petitions filed over the new alignment of NH-715 for expansion into four lanes.
Two petitions were filed recently against the decision by authorities to grant approval to a new alignment of NH-715 for expansion into a four-lane highway from Kaliabor Tiniali in Nagaon to Numaligarh in Golaghat.