(Express File Photo)
While the Union Environment Ministry has given in-principle acceptance for the section between Jalna and Aurangabad districts of Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, it has sought more details from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) for granting the environment clearance. As per the MSRDC’s proposal submitted before the expert appraisal committee of the union environment ministry, it has sought environment clearance for package III of Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway Maharashtra Samruddhi corridor. The package III involves a section from Nhava village in Jalna district to Surala village in Vaijapur taluka in Aurangabad district and its length is of 155 km.
The proposal stated that it is a greenfield alignment and will reduce travel time, fuel consumption, vehicle operation and maintenance cost in comparison to the existing alternatives. It is planned to develop new industrial, educational, commercial, tourism nodes in the vicinity of expressway at a regular interval of 40-50 km, it said. The MSRDC stated that the implementation of entire project will ensure fast and safe road traffic movement, reducing travel time to half by achieving the speed of 150km per hour for motor vehicles.
“The proposal was accepted in-principle, considering the larger public interest,” said the panel, in a meeting held last week. It further sought the “clarifications and plans” for further consideration for granting of environmental clearance. Officials from the MSRDC confirmed that the panel has sought few clarifications from it. “Few clarifications have been sought from us and we will send them soon. Since the proposal has been accepted in-principle, we are sure of getting the environment clearance,” said Kiran Kurundkar, joint managing director of MSRDC.
