By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Ri Bhoi District Administration has asserted that land acquisition process for construction of the four-lane road through the Umsning Bypass would continue.
Earlier, some NGOs and local residents had urged the district administration to put off the land acquisition proceedings until the court gives its verdict on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in this connection.
Ri Bhoi Deputy Commissioner, Akashdeep, while speaking to The Shillong Times, said, “The court has not directed us to stop the land acquisition process, so we will continue with the process.”
He also informed that efforts were being made to complete the process of land acquisition as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, reaction to a query on the slow progress of the construction of the four-lane road on NH-40, Akashdeep said the construction agency has to complete the project within the stipulated timeline.
The Deputy Commissioner also asserted that delay in handing over of land at Umsning to the construction agency would not affect the overall project.
The construction work of the 61.8-km-long four-lane highway, sanctioned at an estimated budget of Rs 536 crore, started at a brisk pace last year but it hit a major stumbling block after Ri Bhoi based NGOs and the State Government entered into a scuffle over the alignment of the four-lane highway.