Indian
Express: Lucknow: Monday, October 15, 2012.
More than a
decade after work was started on the 3,300-km East-West Corridor by the Atal
Bihari Vajpayee government, the UP section of the project is still languishing
because of land acquisition-related issues.
As many as
653 km of the project passes through UP. Of the 21 stretches in state, only 17
have been completed so far, the UP regional office of the National Highways
Authority of India (NHAI) has informed in reply to an RTI application.
The
incomplete parts include a 1 km portion of the Lucknow-Kanpur stretch, a 1 km
portion of the Orai-Jhansi stretch, a 3.82 km portion of the Jajmau Ganga
bridge to Ramadevi crossing in Kanpur, and 1.7 km portion of the Bara to Orai
stretch.
In its reply,
NHAI has anticipated completion of the Jajmau Ganga bridge to Ramadevi crossing
stretch in March 2013 while the other three stretches are expected to be
completed in December.
Official said
that the project got delayed because of land acquisition-related problems. In
the Bara to Orai stretch, land for a 1.7-km portion in Kalpi town had not been
handed over to NHAI yet. The work on the site was started in October 2006 and
it was scheduled to finish in April 2009. While most parts of the 62.8-km
stretch was completed on time, this portion remained a problem because of a
dispute between the district administration and local residents over the land
earmarked for the highway.
“The land
required for that 1.7-km portion is owned by the state government on paper. But
there are a number of families that have permanent constructions there. They
are demanding money to vacate the land,” said an official.
Of the 51-km
Orai-Jhansi stretch, work on 50 km is complete. Around 1 km highway is
incomplete because of delay in obtaining clearance from the Forest Department
and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
The RTI reply
said that construction of the highway was started here in 2005. An official
said that the Forest Department of the UP government in 2010 raised objection
on construction on an 800-metre stretch near Panwari, claiming that the land
was notified as “forest protected land”.
“Permission was
obtained for construction on that land both from the state government and MoEF
in March this year. The project is likely to be complete in February next
year,” an official said.
On the
5.46-km stretch of Jajmau Ganga Bridge to Ramadevi crossing on NH 25, the
construction was delayed because the district administration handed over the
land to NHAI very late.
Work on the
stretch had started in 2005 and was scheduled to be complete in September 2008.
“Land was
handed over to NHAI very late. Delay in obtaining clearance from Archeological
Survey of India for construction near the protected Jajmau Teela in 2010 also
delayed the work,” said Naveen Mishra, Project Director. “Now the cost of the
project has increased manifold in the past few years while the payments are
being done at the rate of 2005,” said an official.
On the
Lucknow-Kanpur stretch, only one railway overbridge-cum-underpass is incomplete
in Unnao district. NHAI Deputy General Manager Pawan Verma said that nearly 80
per cent of the ROB is complete and 20 per cent is pending because permission
for earth mining from nearby fields could not be obtained during rainy season.
“Work will resume when the administration issues permission,” Verma said.
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