Nuapada district Collector Madhusmita Sahu held a review meeting of officials of Lower Indra Irrigation Project (LIIP) to discuss about progress in the realignment work in NH-353 near Pendrawan village, which has remained incomplete due to objection raised by a few land owners who have claimed compensation for their houses.
As informed by the LIIP officials, the Collector insisted on settling of the land acquisition issue as soon as possible and completion of the work in next few weeks.
The realignment work with an estimated cost of Rs 22.99 crore consisted of realignment of 9.972 km road including construction of embankment, wing culvert and wing wall etc. The cost has now escalated to Rs 30.364 crore. The fund has already been placed with the NH authority. Out of this total length, work has been completed in 9.7 km. Work in rest 272 metres is not progressing due to problems in land acquisition. The LIIP authority informed that the proposal for land acquisition has been sent to the department of Water Resources, Government of Odisha for approval.
"We hope to complete the work within a month" said one Engineer of LIIP.