09-02-2005, 01:30 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Golden Quadrilateral gets bogged in Bihar </b>
Pramod Kumar Singh / New Delhi
Road To Nowhere-------- There is an unprecedented jam at National Highway (NH)-2. All road-building projects under the National Highways Development Programmes (NHDP) have come to a grinding halt, <b>thaks to the number of "rangdari chungis" set up by Bihar Mafiosi.</b>
Five sections of NH-2, including Mohania-Sasaram, Dehri-Sone-Aurangabad, Sasaram-Dehri, Aurangabad-Barachatti and Rajganj-Barakata, under the NHDP to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,570 crore have become the Achilles heel for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The ten other connecting projects of NH-2, passing through Uttar Pradesh, too, have hit the roadblock owing to tardy progress in land acquisition, security problems and the shifting of utilities.
Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) project - <b>the ambitious project envisaged by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to link the four metros - is almost 85 per cent complete, but the 452-m stretch that passes through Bihar is yet to take off. This has affected the construction work on Delhi-Kolkata GQ project</b>. The completion of this part of the GQ, that will connect the national Capital to Kolkata, will take ages if the security problems are not addressed. The pathetic law and order situation in Bihar has turned the ambitious highway projects into "roads to nowhere".
<b>Uttar Pradesh is also emulating Bihar and 10 NHDP projects, having investment of Rs 3425 crore, have hit the dead-end owing to many factors. The most important Varanasi-Mohania project is behind schedule owing to initial delay in land acquisition, tree cutting and the law and order problem. Here too, various gangs call the shots. Fearing extortion, nobody wants to bid. Kanpur-Fatehpur to be built at a cost of Rs 350 crore is also delayed due to problem in implementation of retaining wall.</b>
According to the statistics available with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, there are 447 projects on National Highways, which are running behind schedule. This has also resulted in the steep hike in the cost of construction. State governments have appointed nodal officers for resolving pressing issues and a Committee of Secretaries has been constituted to address inter-ministerial and Central-states issues such as land acquisition, utility shifting, environment approvals and clearance of railway bridges.
Insurgency affected North-Eastern states and the Naxal-infested states have also faired poorly in this regard. <b>Border Roads Oganisation (BRO) entrusted to build with 40 NHDP projects in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Uttaranchal is unable to complete the projects due to the frequent law and order problems</b> and funds constraints. There are other projects also which are giving sleepless nights to mandarins of NHAI as many other projects related to the construction and development of National Highways are hanging fire.
Coupled with this is the obstinate attitude of the Union Environment and Forest Ministry, which has been taking ages to clear projects. Highly placed sources said there appears to be a tug of war between the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways and ministry of Environment and Forests. Though the ministers of these ministries belong to the same party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and it should have helped the NHDP cause, but the communication gap between the two is affecting the implementation.
Apart from the game of oneupmanship between the two union ministers, land acquisition and removal of utilities are major issues affecting the implementation of NHDP. <b>The 483-km-long Lucknow-Muzaffarpur stretch of the project is the worst hit. </b>Funded up to the tune of Rs 3000 by the World Bank, the project has virtually become a non-starter as the Uttar Pradesh government wants NHAI to first provide a 10-meter wide strip for tree plantations alongside NH-28. Highway plantations have been put in the category of the "protected forests" by the respective state governments. "Till the issues of trees is settled NHAI can not proceed with the job. On the same hand Uttar Pradesh government is also not providing land for such an important project," a senior NHAI officer said.
Similarly Kota bypass which passes through the Chambal ravines is stuck owing to the large presence of crocodiles in the Chambal River. <b>The wildlife department wants NHAI to ensure that drilling in the riverbed does not disturb the crocodiles</b>. Now NHAI is mulling to build a cable stayed bridge an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore to avoid discomfort to the crocodiles.
This malaise is all pervasive as many other projects are in a limbo owing to several other factors.
The NHDP project, which was launched in 1999 at a cost of Rs 54,000 crore, has now escalated to a whopping Rs 72000 crores, a senior NHAI officer added. Imporant Siliguri project in Assam is also hanging fire due to the Wildlife Department. The road passes through wildlife protected area. The Assam government is unable to take any decisions despite presentations made by the NHAI that the wildlife habitat would not be disturbed. There are other projects, too, which have yet to start due to one reason or another, the officer further added.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pramod Kumar Singh / New Delhi
Road To Nowhere-------- There is an unprecedented jam at National Highway (NH)-2. All road-building projects under the National Highways Development Programmes (NHDP) have come to a grinding halt, <b>thaks to the number of "rangdari chungis" set up by Bihar Mafiosi.</b>
Five sections of NH-2, including Mohania-Sasaram, Dehri-Sone-Aurangabad, Sasaram-Dehri, Aurangabad-Barachatti and Rajganj-Barakata, under the NHDP to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,570 crore have become the Achilles heel for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The ten other connecting projects of NH-2, passing through Uttar Pradesh, too, have hit the roadblock owing to tardy progress in land acquisition, security problems and the shifting of utilities.
Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) project - <b>the ambitious project envisaged by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to link the four metros - is almost 85 per cent complete, but the 452-m stretch that passes through Bihar is yet to take off. This has affected the construction work on Delhi-Kolkata GQ project</b>. The completion of this part of the GQ, that will connect the national Capital to Kolkata, will take ages if the security problems are not addressed. The pathetic law and order situation in Bihar has turned the ambitious highway projects into "roads to nowhere".
<b>Uttar Pradesh is also emulating Bihar and 10 NHDP projects, having investment of Rs 3425 crore, have hit the dead-end owing to many factors. The most important Varanasi-Mohania project is behind schedule owing to initial delay in land acquisition, tree cutting and the law and order problem. Here too, various gangs call the shots. Fearing extortion, nobody wants to bid. Kanpur-Fatehpur to be built at a cost of Rs 350 crore is also delayed due to problem in implementation of retaining wall.</b>
According to the statistics available with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, there are 447 projects on National Highways, which are running behind schedule. This has also resulted in the steep hike in the cost of construction. State governments have appointed nodal officers for resolving pressing issues and a Committee of Secretaries has been constituted to address inter-ministerial and Central-states issues such as land acquisition, utility shifting, environment approvals and clearance of railway bridges.
Insurgency affected North-Eastern states and the Naxal-infested states have also faired poorly in this regard. <b>Border Roads Oganisation (BRO) entrusted to build with 40 NHDP projects in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Uttaranchal is unable to complete the projects due to the frequent law and order problems</b> and funds constraints. There are other projects also which are giving sleepless nights to mandarins of NHAI as many other projects related to the construction and development of National Highways are hanging fire.
Coupled with this is the obstinate attitude of the Union Environment and Forest Ministry, which has been taking ages to clear projects. Highly placed sources said there appears to be a tug of war between the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways and ministry of Environment and Forests. Though the ministers of these ministries belong to the same party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and it should have helped the NHDP cause, but the communication gap between the two is affecting the implementation.
Apart from the game of oneupmanship between the two union ministers, land acquisition and removal of utilities are major issues affecting the implementation of NHDP. <b>The 483-km-long Lucknow-Muzaffarpur stretch of the project is the worst hit. </b>Funded up to the tune of Rs 3000 by the World Bank, the project has virtually become a non-starter as the Uttar Pradesh government wants NHAI to first provide a 10-meter wide strip for tree plantations alongside NH-28. Highway plantations have been put in the category of the "protected forests" by the respective state governments. "Till the issues of trees is settled NHAI can not proceed with the job. On the same hand Uttar Pradesh government is also not providing land for such an important project," a senior NHAI officer said.
Similarly Kota bypass which passes through the Chambal ravines is stuck owing to the large presence of crocodiles in the Chambal River. <b>The wildlife department wants NHAI to ensure that drilling in the riverbed does not disturb the crocodiles</b>. Now NHAI is mulling to build a cable stayed bridge an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore to avoid discomfort to the crocodiles.
This malaise is all pervasive as many other projects are in a limbo owing to several other factors.
The NHDP project, which was launched in 1999 at a cost of Rs 54,000 crore, has now escalated to a whopping Rs 72000 crores, a senior NHAI officer added. Imporant Siliguri project in Assam is also hanging fire due to the Wildlife Department. The road passes through wildlife protected area. The Assam government is unable to take any decisions despite presentations made by the NHAI that the wildlife habitat would not be disturbed. There are other projects, too, which have yet to start due to one reason or another, the officer further added.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->