DIMAPUR — Ahead of his next round of highway
projects inspection, tentatively scheduled for next month, Deputy Chief
Minister TR Zeliang has shot off a warning that projects facing long delays due
to unreasonable land acquisition matters will be recommended foreclosure and
de-sanctioning.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the deputy chief
minister’s office—who is also the minister in charge of Planning &
Transformation, and National Highway—informed that some projects under NHIDCL
have been stalled, are incomplete, or are yet to be started due to land
acquisition issues.
“Therefore, deputy chief minister intends to have threadbare
interaction with landowners along with village council chairman and GBs and
respective deputy commissioners and understand the issue firsthand and take up
necessary steps to resolve such an impasse. And in case of some projects
getting delayed for years due to unreasonable land acquisition matters and
failing to resolve within the given timeline, NPWD (NH) Department will have no
option but to recommend for foreclosure and de-sanctioning of such projects.
“Sustainable road connectivity remains one of the top
priorities of present dispensation under the leadership of Neiphiu Rio and
deputy chief minister, as minister in charge of National Highway, intends to
implement the same on the ground without any compromise on quality and
workmanship,” the statement read.
It further informed that the quarterly coordination meeting
with all implementing agencies in the state will be held even monthly hereafter
on a need-basis. As desired by Union Minister for Road, Transport, and Highways
Nitin Gadkari, the coordination meeting will now be held along with officials
from Regional Office, MoRTH Guwahati, and even officials from the Ministry on
matters that require immediate attention and intervention of the ministry, it
added.
The first coordination meeting for the year 2025 will be
held in the month of January with NPWD (NH), NHIDCL and BRTF to get the status
of all ongoing projects under their respective supervision, it informed.
Following his tour of six districts in November to inspect
highway projects under NPWD (NH), it informed that Zeliang will now inspect all
the ongoing highway projects under NHIDCL, tentatively in January 2025, which
will be followed by projects under BRTF.
“In this regard, the executive director of NHIDCL Kohima,
his officials in the respective PMUs, and concerned contractors are to be in
their respective sites during the tour. Official tour program will be
circulated in due course after finalisation of route and date of travel,” it
stated.
Zeliang appealed to all the stakeholders to cooperate with
and support the existing government policies and regulations to ensure the
timely completion of projects.
According to him, failures or delays could hinder the state
from getting new sanctions, “thereby depriving many stakeholders in the
interior parts of the state from having good and sustainable National
Highways.”
“People from other parts of the State should not continue to
suffer bad road conditions at the cost of a few vested interests, person or
persons,” it added.
