Farmers Movement Archive

Shortage of raw material halts widening of NH-44 from Singhu border to Rai

Tribune News ServiceSonepat, December 19The work of widening of the National-Highway-44 from Singhu border to Rai, around 10 km stretch out of a total of 70.5 km, which was halted for the past 13 months due to the farmers’ protest, has again got stuck due to shortage of raw materials. The reason behind the shortage of materials was stated to be the ban on operation of the stone crusher zones by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).Ccrushing units shutThe work couldn’t be started at full pace. All raw material for constructing roads usually comes from the stone crusher zones in Tosham, Charkhi Dadri, Yamunanagar and other areas. All these crushing zones had been shut on the orders of the NGT — Anand Dahiya, DGM (technical), NHAISo far, 76 per cent work of widening has been completed while the rest of 24 per cent would be started soon after the proper supply of the raw materials resumes.However, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has started patch work on the stretch to ease commuters with the permission of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) with the stocked material.The Central Government had inaugurated the project, worth Rs2128.72 crore, of 12-lane widening of the NH-44. The work was allotted to Essel Infra Projects Limited in 2015 during the first regime of the BJP-led government. The company had, however, failed to complete the project.After a period of one-and-a-half-years, the NHAI cancelled the tender of Essel Infra Projects and re-allotted the work to a new company, Well Spun, in 2019. The NHAI had fixed the target to complete the work by September 2021.Meanwhile, the protesting farmers pitched tents and parked trailers on both sides of the NH-44 on November 26 last year due to which the company had to stop work on the stretch of around 10 km. Even the service road sides were dug up. Sewage and muddy water had filled in these service lanes.The stretch was opened for commuters after 385 days on December 15, when farmers left their protest site on December 11. Though all were hoping that after farmers’ departure the work would be started on war footing, but it once again got stuck due to shortage of raw material.Anand Dahiya, Deputy General Manager (Technical), told The Tribune that , “The CPCB has given permission to start construction and maintenance of the national highways within the NCR region by maintaining pollution norms on December 17.” The work couldn’t be started at full pace, he added.All raw material for constructing roads usually comes from the stone crusher zones in Tosham, Charkhi Dadri, Yamunanagar and other areas, he said. All these crushing zones had been shut on the orders of the NGT, he added.“That’s why we have begun patch work on the stretch, levelling of the stretch and soil investigation with the available stock of the raw material,” he asserted. “Almost 76 per cent work of widening of the NH-44 has been completed. The rest of 24 per cent work will take another 10 months to complete,” he claimed.

The Tribune

2021-12-20