Six years on, National Highway project remains a non-starter in Odisha

JAGATSINGHPUR: It’s been six years since Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways announced to upgrade Cuttack-Naugaon State Highway into National Highway-55  but the process of land acquisition is yet to begin for the project. The proposed highway would pass through Jagatsinghpur, Balikuda and Kandarpur. 

Collector Sangram Keshari Mohapatra recently discussed the issues pertaining to the project with engineers, tehsildars and officials of several line departments. He directed Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCDOL), BSNL besides the Drainage and Forest and Environment departments to submit estimates for shifting or relocating their infrastructure from the project site. 

For the 78.35 km stretch of the road in Jagatsinghpur district, land acquisition would be done in all tehsils except Kujang. The width of the NH would be 20 metre while the by-pass will be 30 metre wide. While 40 km new long road and nine by-pass roads would be constructed, around 200 structures including cabins and houses will be demolished for which compensation will be given to the affected people.

All tehsildars of the district have been engaged as land acquisition officials while the Collector will be the arbitrator for the project.  Sources said a total of 957.149 acre land including 113.359 acre government land and 843.790 acre private land will be acquired for the NH. 

The Ministry had issued a notification on January 24 last year to start the land acquisition process for the project under section 3-A of National Highway Act, 1956.  Earlier, in 2017 the district administration had conducted a public meeting at Jagatsinghpur for the project. The administration had identified six locations for construction of the proposed NH by-pass.