The newly established Regional Office of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at Nagpur in neighbouring Maharashtra will oversee faster implementation of its projects in Chhattisgarh. The Regional Office at Nagpur will also oversee faster implementation of road projects in parts of Maharashtra.
A total of 19 Regional Offices have been set up by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in the entire country. This information was given by Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, Pon Radhakrishnan in a written reply in the lok Sabha.
Notably, the Central Government has also recently approved a revised cost of Rs3045 crore under its Road Requirement Plan (RRP) for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas of Chhattisgarh.
Overall, the Centre has approved a Road Requirement Plan (RRP) for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas of a total of 34 Districts in 8 States covering 5477 km length (1126 km NHs & 4351 km State Roads).
In Chhattisgarh, the fund had been approved for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas measuring 2019 kms . As per details of Physical Progress achieved as on March 1, 2015 under RRP, the length of road completed between 2010-11 to 2014-15 in the insurgency infested areas in Chhattisgarh upto February 28,2015 is 868 kms.
As per the State-wise details of fund allocated and expenditure incurred under lWE scheme, Chhattisgarh made expenditure of Rs190 crore between 2010-11 to 2014-15 upto February 28, 2015. This information was given by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Planning, Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply in the lok Sabha.
Notably, last year, the Central Government had simplified the procedure for offering general approval under Section-2 of Central Forest Conservation Act 1980, keeping in view the need of infrastructural development for public utility.
This implied that general approval for construction of roads on forest land in a total of ten left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected districts of Chhattisgarh will now be granted easily, official informed here. As per the simplified procedure, the general approval for construction of two-lane highways on forest land will be given by State Government itself.
In this context, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand had issued a circular to Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of all the departments and also to the Divisional Commissioners and District Collectors.
According to the officials, simplification of clearance procedure will largely benefit the areas of 10 lWE affected districts of the State, by expediting construction of roads in Chhattisgarh and connecting it to mainstream development.
The 10 lWE affected districts include Bastar (Jagdalpur), Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Narayanpur, Jashpur, Kabeerdham (Kawardha), Rajnandgaon, Koriya and Surguja. This simplified procedure will also be applicable in the new districts, which have been formed by reorganizing the aforementioned old districts.
It is noteworthy that Chief Minister Raman Singh, in his meeting with Union Minister of State for Forest and Environment Prakash Javdekar in New Delhi on June 10, 2014, had made the Centre aware of the complications arising in procedure of forest and environment clearances, officials stated. In the circular, the Chief Secretary has directed all the Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners and District Collectors that with effect of the rules relaxed by the Central Government, implementation of two-lane highway projects of Integrated Action Plan (IAP) and other schemes in aforementioned districts should be expedited.
Moreover, on January 13 this year, Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari announced on Tuesday that construction of roads and bridges in the left Wing Extremism (lWE) areas would be carried out on mission mode with precast and other advance technologies with assistance from Military Engineering Services (MES) and DRDO. “The road projects will be carried out through ‘Mission Mode’ in coordination with the insurgency-hit states’’ Gadkari told newsmen here at a crowded press conference after holding a review meeting with the Chief Ministers and Ministers of 8 Naxal-hit States in Naya Raipur.
He said that local contractors would also be engaged for construction of roads and other development works in violence-hit pockets. Gadkari had reviewed the progress of road infrastructure works in insurgency-hit eight states and heaped praise on security forces and construction agencies for executing the key road projects in red zones despite all odds.
He stressed upon the need to involve the local tribal youth in development works and appreciated the efforts of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh for doing excellent work in creating infrastructure in Naxal areas. Gadkari told delegates at the review meet that around 75 per cent of the Naxal problem could be solved if a network of road and bridges is developed in insurgency-hit areas. He emphasised on using latest technology in road construction work and insisted that roads laying projects should be completed in a time-bound manner.
The Union Minister had later informed media persons in Raipur that the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) will be approached and meeting will be held regarding large number of projects awaiting clearance from MoEF in the forest areas. He had outlined the status of Road Requirement Plan (RRP) Phase-1 and said that construction of 5477 km long roads was to be done in 34 districts in the phase-1 out of which 3200 km long roads have been constructed. The remaining work will be completed by May 2015.
The second phase of RRP which has proposal for construction of 7294 km long roads and 48 new bridges for Rs10700 crores will soon get approval and the implementation will begin.