Chief Minister Raghubar Das calling Jharkhand a landlocked State, said that road connectivity within and outside the State was a basic and important requirement. Das, while addressing a meeting of Eastern Inter-State Council in Patna on Friday, said that almost each of the States taking part in the Council are facing similar problems like poverty, illiteracy, lack of basic infrastructure and drought- like situations.
Talking about the importance of approval of NH-23 and NH-75 by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Das said that 443 hectares against the required 450 hectares (98 per cent) of land have been made available while 1.64 hectares of land of forest diversion are still required. The problem for the time being will be solved only by widening and repairing of work on the existing roads, being done under the NHDP Phase-IV.
The Chief Minister also added that 62 per cent of land was available for NH–75 while the process of land acquisition was also in progress. Both the national highways are important to connect Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, added Das. “In order to increase the connectivity for the development of lWE affected areas in the State, 21 projects have been taken by the Ministry of Road Transports and Highways,” said the Chief Minister.
Das further added that considering the requirements and necessity in this regard, some of the projects have been adopted by the State Government while a DPR of Rs650 crore has been prepared for the remaining 11 projects (275 kms). The State Government expects that the MoRTH will give its approval for the same, added the CM.
Referring to the construction of bridge over River Ganges, Das said that the issue has been pending for a long time which will open an entry gate to North-East for the country. It will be more beneficial both for Jharkhand and Bihar, added Das. Referring to the dispute over the division of pension liabilities between Jharkhand and Bihar, Das expected that there was always a possibility of out of court settlement in such matters, though the case was sub judice.
“The issue was settled in Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh on the basis of population but the process was not followed in case of Jharkhand leading to heavy losses for the State,” Das added. Das in his address also demanded the Indian Railways to share digital data with the States so that the States do not have to face revenue losses. “The Jharkhand Government was also not able to collect VAT as the coal companies like CCl, BCCl and ECl do not make the data of e-auction, linkage and sale of coal available with the State Government,” said Das.