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The country's most ambitious highway programme is being stymied by problems of land acquisition, law and order, and encroachment, particularly in Bihar, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.
Only 121 hectares of the 827 needed in Tamil Nadu, and 487 hectares of the 1,168 needed in Orissa have been acquired. While all the 88 hectares needed in Bihar have been acquired, a law and order problem is posing a threat.
Officials of the National Highways Authority of India have started redefining Transport Minister B C Khanduri's statement that the 5,846 km Golden Quadrilateral project will be substantially complete' by December 2003.
They are saying the minister meant that at least two of the four-lane carriageway would be complete.
Indeed, in projects such as the 56.4 km Kanchipuram-Poonamalee stretch of the Quadrilateral in Tamil Nadu, where only 5.3 per cent of the work has been done, the NHAI has asked the contractors to complete two of the four lanes by December 2003.
The project was to be completed by then.
Similarly, in the 77 km Fatehpur-Khaga section in Uttar Pradesh, supposed to be completed by July 2004, the NHAI has asked for two lanes to be readied by the end of the year. Of the two new lanes that had to be laid (the existing two were to be strengthened), a little more than half would be complete by the end of the year, NHAI officials said.
Since there is little the NHAI can do about matters not in its control, senior officials and Khanduri have regularly been meeting chief ministers of the states concerned, as well as officials down to the district-magistrate level.
In West Bengal, for instance, Khanduri's meeting with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya resulted in NHAI officials getting police protection. A deputy inspector-general was put in charge of clearing encroachment.
With miscreants holding officials of Oriental Structural Engineers in Bihar hostage for several hours, burning a vehicle and damaging the contractors' equipment, Khanduri has written to Chief Minister Rabri Devi.
Only 9.4 per cent of the work on the Mohania-Sasaram stretch and 0.6 per cent on the Sasaram-Dehri project have been completed in Bihar.
In other cases, such as the Hubli-Haveri stretch in Karnataka, where just 3.9 per cent of the physical targets have been met, NHAI officials concede their hands are tied.
"Cancelling the contract will not help," explains an official, pointing out that the NHAI might then be dragged to court.
In the 62 km Sikandara-Bhaunti section in Uttar Pradesh, which was to be completed by August 2004, land was acquired only last month. Structures on it are yet to be removed.
Meanwhile, contractors are being asked to work on non-contiguous stretches till the land is cleared.
In the 45 km Pallikonda-Ranipet stretch in Tamil Nadu, 33 km of the 45 km of land required has been acquired. However, at least 17 temples and other structures need to be removed from the 7 km length of Satwachain town.
In Khurda, Orissa, compensation is yet to be provided for the land acquired along a 32 km stretch. Not surprisingly, only 27 per cent of the work on the Khurda-Sunakhala stretch is completed.