The senior State Government officials who along with Chief Secretary S Ramaswami interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video-conferencing on Wednesday regarding the progress of PRGATI (pro-active governance and timely implementation) alleged that National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) kept misinforming the Prime Minister’s Office over the possession of land meant for constructing a 36-km stretch of the National Highway between Nagina to Kashipur.
Notably, the State Government and the NHAI have been sparring for some time over the “possession” of the land with the latter saying that the former is not handing over the “possession”, a charge that the State Government is vehemently denying.
It is learnt that the CS in course of the video-conferencing with the PM made it clear that they have already completed the possession transfer process and it is now for the NHAI to start the construction. The CS further informed the PM that the proposed NH stretch passing through 31 villages, the State Government has already given compensation to the tune of Rs 364 crore to the land losers with Rs 114 crore remaining to be disbursed by September 20. Forest clearance has also been obtained and NHAI has been given permission for the shifting of utility, he further told the PM. Now, five distribution lines are to be laid and the height of five transmission lines are to be raised aside from two water supply lines remaining to be shifted, Ramaswami said during the video conferencing. He further told the PM that if NHAI wants physical possession of the land they are ready to cooperate.
However, an officer privy to the meeting said while insisting on anonymity that the term ‘physical possession’ has no meaning whatsoever. “We already transferred the land to NHAI following which they put up pillars to demarcate the land that runs across the road. It seems that they have been misreporting things to the PMO to cloak their laidback attitude. Once they have installed pillars what more can we doIJ If anyone lodges a complaint after NHAI starts the work they might raise the complaint of the State Government not giving them possession of the land,” he said while talking to this correspondent.
He added they have, however, refrained from pitching in during the video conferencing. “However, it becomes clear to us that NHAI is misrepresenting facts to keep their apathetic approach towards the NH construction work away from the PMO,” the officer said.
Aside from the land controversy regarding the NH construction, CS apprised the PM of the SPV (special purpose vehicle) having been constituted with the appointment of a chief executive officer (CEO) to execute the smart city programmes. Furthermore, a high-level steering committee with the chief secretary at his head is being formed to give a final touch to the project, CS informed.
Among those who were present during the video conferencing aside from the CS were the additional chief secretary Omprakash, urban development secretary Radhika Jha, secretary revenue Harbans Singh Chugh and CEO smart city Dilip Jawalkar.
